Argentina (women) - Bronze Medal, Beijing 2008 (Picture FIH / Gordon Morrison)

September 20, 2008

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing marked the 100th year of hockey in the Olympic Games and three teams from the Pan American region qualified for these competitions: Argentina (women), USA (women) and Canada (men).

ARGENTINA (women) – The Argentinean women arrived ranked #2 in the world and many observers were naming them as their favourites after their victory at the recent Champions Trophy in Monchengladbach, where they dominated the World Champions (The Netherlands) and the Olympic Champions (Germany).

Surprisingly, they started their Olympic campaign very slowly, conceding two draws to USA and Great Britain (both times after blowing off a two-goal lead) and earning meagre wins against Japan (2-1) and New Zealand (3-2). A decisive win over Germany (4-0) booked their berth to the semi-finals where they were cleanly dispatched (2-5) by the Netherlands, who were in a class of their own on their way to the Gold Medal.

In their last game, Argentina fought hard to win over Germany (3-1 with goals from Rosario Luchetti, Carla Rebecchi and Noel Barrionuevo) and earn the Bronze Medal. They have had a glorious period in recent years that saw them on the podium of all world level competitions: Silver Medal in Sydney in 2000, World Champions in 2002, Bronze medals in Athens in 2004, at the 2006 World Cup and again in Beijing! No wonder that “Las Leonas” are such stars in their country, just like the soccer players. The most famous of them all, Diego Maradaona, was often in the stands to cheer the Argentinean team, stirring-up fever amongst the many photographers when he went down on the field to congratulate them after their medals. Many newspapers published the picture of Diego pausing proudly with the (pink) shoes offered by Luciana Aymar and the shirt of Captain Magdalena Aicega!

USA (women) – The American women, with a hard working and cohesive unit, had an excellent tournament, arriving in Beijing in 11th position in the World Rankings and finishing 8th. They started with a draw (2-2) against continental rival Argentina, a rare occurrence in official competition, then another one against Japan (1-1), showing their character in both matches by coming back from behind. After logically losing to Germany (2-4), they put on a good offensive show to beat New Zealand (4-1).

They needed a win in their last game to finish third in their pool (and top 6 in the final standings) but could only manage a scoreless draw against Great Britain, despite earning 10 penalty-corners and probably being the better side on the day. In the classification game for 7th-8th, they faced Spain and were ahead until two minutes from the end when the Spaniards managed to score their only field goal from the whole competition (!) to push the game into overtime, and then finally win with a penalty-corner.

With a final place of 8th, the USA jump two spots in the World Rankings (skipping over Korea and New Zealand) and are now in 9th position in the new FIH Rankings published after the Games.

CANADA (men) – The Canadians had a decent tournament but could not muster the same fire that allowed them to win the 2007 Pan American Games over Argentina. They could not do much in their opening game losing to an Australian team determined to show that they intended to defend fiercely their Olympic title (1-6), they created problems for the Netherlands and Great Britain with their aggressive play, fast counter-attacks and some nice goals, but not enough to win (2-4 and 1-1), they soundly beat South Africa (5-3) but lost against a very average Pakistan team (1-3) in a game that if they had won could have pushed them to the 4th place in their pool and help them achieve their goal of a top 8 finish.

Canada finished 10th after a final loss to Belgium (in torrential rains…), one rank higher than their entry position. This result nevertheless allows them to jump two spots (skipping over Malaysia and South Africa) in the World Rankings, where they now sit in 13th position.

OFFICIALS –Two umpires and six technical officials (see detail) had been appointed to officiate in Beijing. Argentinean umpires Carolina de la Fuente and Soledad Iparraguirre were selected to umpire together the final between The Netherlands and China; in a very intense atmosphere, they made an excellent job to keep control of the proceedings while allowing the game to flow, resulting in a superb conclusion to the women’s competition. It was the second Olympic Final umpired by Soledad!

These competitions marking the hundredth year of hockey presence in the Olympic Games were a roaring success, superiorly organized and run, providing a spectacular showcase for our sport. It proved in the end the healthy state of hockey around the world, with the medals spread over 6 countries in four continents!

For more information on the hockey competitions at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (full results, statistics, pictures, official game reports, etc…), you can visit the special Olympic web site maintained on-site by the FIH.

Yan Huckendubler