The women's field hockey tournament at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the 7th edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over an eleven-day period beginning on 16 August, and culminating with the medal finals on 26 August. All games were played at the hockey centre within the Hellinikon Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece.
Germany won the gold medal for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final. Argentina won the bronze medal by defeating China 1–0.
Qualification Each of the continental champions from the five federations received an automatic berth. Along with the five teams qualifying through the Olympic Qualification Tournament, ten teams competed in this tournament.
DatesEventLocationQualifier(s)5–11 October 20022002 Asian Games Busan, South Korea25–31 May 20032003 Oceania Cup Melbourne, Australia Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand3–13 August 20032003 Pan American Games Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic1–13 September 20032003 EuroHockey Nations Championship Barcelona, Spain7–17 October 20032003 All-Africa Games Abuja, Nigeria19–28 March 2004Olympic Qualification Tournament Manukau, New Zealand
Although the host nation would have qualified automatically as well, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to give them an automatic berth due to the standard of hockey in Greece. Greece appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), however it was turned down. Greece's first option to gain a place at the Olympics was by qualifying for the EuroHockey Nations Championship held in 2003. As they did not qualify for this tournament their last option was to beat Russia, the last ranked team of the Olympic Qualification Tournament in a best of three play-off competition. Russia would have kept its place in the Qualifier regardless of whether it won or lost against Greece. There would, however, have been four places at stake at the tournament if Greece had qualified, rather than five. Eventually Greece withdrew from participating in the 11-14 March 2004 play-off competition in Auckland, New Zealand, due to "explicit financial reasons".
Umpires
Rosters
Results All times are Eastern European Time (UTC+2)
Preliminary round Pool A
Pool B
Classification round
Ninth and tenth place
Fifth- to eighth-place classification
Crossover
Seventh and eighth place
Fifth and sixth place
First- to fourth-place classification
Semi-finals
Bronze medal match
Gold-medal match
Statistics
Final ranking
Goalscorers
References
External links Official FIH website