The women's field hockey tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was the 8th edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over a thirteen-day period beginning on 10 August, and culminating with the medal finals on 22 August. All games were played at the hockey field constructed on the Olympic Green in Beijing, China.

The Netherlands won the gold medal for the second time after defeating the hosts China 2–0 in the final. Argentina won the bronze medal by defeating the defending champions Germany 3–1.

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

Qualification Each of the continental champions from five federations and the hosts China received an automatic berth. The European federation received two extra quotas, while Oceanian received one extra quota, 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.

DatesEventLocationQuotasQualifier(s)Host nation1 (5)2–14 December 20062006 Asian GamesDoha, Qatar1 (6)14–22 July 20072007 African Olympic QualifierNairobi, Kenya1 (12)14–29 July 20072007 Pan American GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil1 (2)18–25 August 20072007 EuroHockey Nations ChampionshipManchester, England3 (3) (1) (10)10–17 September 20072007 Oceania CupBuderim, Australia2 (7) (4)12–20 April 2008Olympic Qualifying Tournament 1Baku, Azerbaijan1 (8)19–27 April 2008Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2Kazan, Russia1 (11)26 April – 4 May 2008Olympic Qualifying Tournament 3Victoria, Canada1 (9)Total8

– China qualified both as host and continental champion, therefore that quota was given to the Asian federation allowing Japan to qualify directly to the 2008 Summer Olympics as the second-placed team at the 2006 Asian Games.

Umpires Fifteen umpires for the women's event were appointed by the FIH.FIH Outdoor Appointments 2008 During each match, a video umpire was used to assist the on-field umpires in determining if a goal had been legally scored.XXIXth Olympic Games Tournament Regulations - Men's and Women's Hockey Competitions

Squads

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

First round

Pool A

Pool B

Fifth to twelfth place classification

Eleventh and twelfth place

Ninth and tenth place

Seventh and eighth place

Fifth and sixth place

Medal round

Semi-finals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Final standings

Goalscorers

References

External links Official FIH website