| Tournament: | Women's field hockey at the 1980 Summer Olympics |
| Size: | 150 |
| Country: | Soviet Union |
| City: | Moscow |
| Dates: | 25–31 July 1980 |
| Venues: | Minor Arena of Dynamo Stadium and Young Pioneers Stadium |
| Teams: | 6 |
| Champions: | Zimbabwe |
| Second: | Czechoslovakia |
| Third: | Soviet Union |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 15 |
| Goals: | 49 |
| Top Scorer: | Natella Krasnikova Patricia McKillop |
| Top Scorer Goals: | 6 |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
| Next Tournament: | Field hockey at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament |
The women's field hockey tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics was the first edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over a six-day period beginning on 25 July, and culminating on 31 July 1980. Games were played across two venues in Moscow, at the Minor Arena at Dynamo Stadium and Young Pioneers Stadium.[1]
Zimbabwe won the gold medal finishing top of the pool at the conclusion of the pool stage. Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union won the silver and bronze respectively, finishing in second and third place in the pool.[2]
In 1980, there was an International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA), separate from the predominantly male Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH). Because the FIH was the international federation affiliated to the International Olympic Committee, it supervised the Olympic tournament.
The FIH and IFWHA agreed that qualification for the Olympics would be decided by a joint FIH–IFWHA committee based on the results over the previous two years, including the 1978 (FIH) and 1979 (IFWHA) women's world championships.[3]
Five teams qualified to join the host Soviet team: the Netherlands, West Germany, the United States, New Zealand, and Great Britain[4] (taking the place of Wales, England, and Scotland, who had finished 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively in the 1979 tournament[5]).
However, all five of these teams boycotted to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United States and West Germany boycotted completely, and while New Zealand, Great Britain and the Netherlands competed in other sports, their hockey governing bodies pulled out.
This threw the tournament into chaos. Subsequently, the organising committee sent out invitations to other countries,[6] though Ireland declined their invitation.[7]
See main article: Field hockey at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's team squads.
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Regina Lorenz Elisabeth Pistauer
Lorraine Fernandes