| Tournament: | Women's field hockey at the 2020 Summer Olympics |
| Size: | 150px |
| Country: | Japan |
| City: | Tokyo |
| Dates: | 24 July – 6 August 2021 |
| Venues: | Oi Hockey Stadium |
| Teams: | 12 |
| Confederations: | 5 |
| Count: | 4 |
| Matches: | 38 |
| Goals: | 142 |
| Top Scorer: | Frédérique Matla |
| Top Scorer Goals: | 9 |
| Previous Year: | 2016 |
| Previous Tournament: | Field hockey at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Next Tournament: | Field hockey at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament |
The women's field hockey tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the eleventh edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held from 24 July to 6 August 2021. All games were played at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.
It was originally scheduled to be held from 25 July to 7 August 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.[2]
Competing in their fifth final in a row (wins in 2008 and 2012; losses in 2004 and 2016), the Netherlands won their fourth title, after winning the final 3–1 over Argentina.[3] The defending champions Great Britain won the bronze medal after defeating India 4–3 in the bronze medal game.[4]
The medals for the competition were presented by Gerardo Werthein, Argentina; IOC Executive Board Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Dr. Narinder Dhruv Batra, India; FIH President.
| Sat 24 | Sun 25 | Mon 26 | Tue 27 | Wed 28 | Thu 29 | Fri 30 | Sat 31 | Sun 1 | Mon 2 | Tue 3 | Wed 4 | Thu 5 | Fri 6 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | G | G | G | G | G | G | ¼ | ½ | B | F | ||||||
The twelve teams in the tournament were divided into two groups of six, with each team initially playing round-robin games within their group. Following the completion of the round-robin stage, the top four teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals. The two semi-final winners met for the gold medal match, while the semi-final losers played in the bronze medal match.
See main article: Field hockey at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification.
Each of the Continental Champions from five confederations received an automatic berth. Japan as the host nation qualified automatically. The other teams qualified through the 2019 Women's FIH Olympic Qualifiers.[5]
On 11 September 2019, 14 umpires were appointed by the FIH.[6]
See main article: Field hockey at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's team squads.
The pools were announced on 23 November 2019.[7]
All times are local (UTC+9).[8] [9]
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On 26 July 2021, during the last five minutes of the preliminary match between Argentina and Spain, a cockroach was recorded on the field.[10] While switching between cameras, the Argentinian sports channel Torneos y Competencias spent several seconds with one cameraperson that was focused on a cockroach walking atop a fence, leading the TyC Sports commentator to acknowledge the presence of "la cucaracha".[11] A clip of the cockroach uploaded to Twitter by user @s6antispam went viral, receiving 8.2 million views worldwide over the weekend.[12]