Field hockey at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Men's field hockey
at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Olympic Green Hockey Field
Tournament details
Host country	China
City	Beijing
Dates	11 – 23 August
Teams	12
Venue(s)	Olympic Green Hockey Field
Final positions
Champions	Germany (3rd title)
Runner-up	Spain
Third place	Australia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	38
Goals scored	174 (4.58 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Taeke Taekema (11 goals)
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The men's field hockey tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was the 21st edition of the field hockey event for men at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over a thirteen-day period beginning on 11 August, and culminating with the medal finals on 23 August. All games were played at the hockey field constructed on the Olympic Green in Beijing, China.

Germany won the gold medal for the third time after defeating Spain 1–0 in the final. Defending champions Australia won the bronze medal by defeating Netherlands 6–2.This was the only edition India has missed out in its Olympic history.

Competition format

The twelve teams in the tournament were divided into two pools of six, with each team initially playing round-robin games within their pool. Following the completion of the round-robin, the top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinals. All other teams play classification matches to determine the final tournament rankings. The two semi-final winners meet for the gold medal match, while the semi-final losers play in the bronze medal match.

Qualification

Each of the continental champions from five federations and host received an automatic berth. The European and Asian federations received two and one extra quotas respectively based upon the FIH World Rankings at the completion of the 2006 World Cup. In addition to the three teams qualifying through the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, the following twelve teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, competed in this tournament.

Date	Event	Location	Qualifier (s)
Host nation			China (17)
2–14 December 2006	2006 Asian Games	Doha, Qatar	South Korea (5) Pakistan (6)
14–22 July 2007	2007 African Olympic Qualifier	Nairobi, Kenya	South Africa (13)
14–29 July 2007	2007 Pan American Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Canada (15)
18–25 August 2007	2007 EuroHockey Nations Championship	Manchester, England	Netherlands (3) Spain (4) Belgium (12)
11–17 September 2007	2007 Oceania Cup	Buderim, Australia	Australia (2)
2–10 February 2008	Olympic Qualifying Tournament 1	Auckland, New Zealand	New Zealand (10)
1–9 March 2008	Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2	Santiago, Chile	Great Britain (8)
5–13 April 2008	Olympic Qualifying Tournament 3	Kakamigahara, Japan	Germany (1)

Umpires

Fifteen umpires for the men's event were appointed by the FIH. During each match, a video umpire was used to assist the on-field umpires in determining if a goal had been legally scored.

• Xavier Adell (ESP)
• Christian Blasch (GER)
• Chen Dekang (CHN)
• Henrik Ehlers (DEN)
• David Gentles (AUS)

• Murray Grime (AUS)
• Kim Hong-lae (KOR)
• Satinder Kumar (IND)
• David Leiper (GBR)
• Andy Mair (GBR)

• Gary Simmonds (RSA)
• Amarjit Singh (MAS)
• Rob ten Cate (NED)
• Roel van Eert (NED)
• John Wright (RSA)

Squads

Main article: Field hockey at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads

Results

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00)

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Medal round

	Semifinals				Gold medal match
	21 August 2008
	Netherlands	1 (3)
					23 August 2008
	Germany (p.s.)	1 (4)
					Germany	1
	21 August 2008
					Spain	0
	Spain	3
	Australia	2
					Bronze medal match
					23 August 2008
					Netherlands	2
					Australia	6

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Statistics

Final ranking

1. Germany
2. Spain
3. Australia
4. Netherlands
5. Great Britain
6. South Korea

7. New Zealand
8. Pakistan
9. Belgium
10. Canada
11. China
12. South Africa

External links

• Official FIH website