Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Men Hockey Qualified Nations

All the 12 slots for the men field hockey event in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics have been filled up by teams from five continents. Interestingly, just like the women 2016 Summer Olympics Hockey event, no African team will participate in the games. This is after South Africa refused to take its position as the winner of the 2015 African Qualifying Tournament, held in Randburg from the 23rd of October to the 1st of November. New Zealand which had failed to qualify in the Buenos Aires 2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals took the slot intended for the African teams because it was the next best placed nation.

The European nations took half of the 12 slots in the 2016 Summer Olympics. These six slots for the men hockey sport went to Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. Asia just managed to get one slot, that went to Team India, while Canada took the Central and the North America slot. Oceania will be represented by Team Australia and Team New Zealand, while the host; Team Brazil, together with Team Argentina will represent South America continent.

Six out of the 12 qualified teams have won at least a Summer Olympics men hockey sport gold medal.

These teams are India, which have won the gold medal eight times as follows: 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980.

Team GB or England has won the gold medal 3 times; 1908, 1920 and 1986.

Team Germany has won the Summer Olympics men hockey gold medal in 1972 as West Germany, they also won the gold of the men’s hockey in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics as well as the gold medal for the last two editions of the Summer Olympics men hockey event; 2008 and finally the 2012 London Olympics Summer Olympics.

Netherlands have won the men hockey gold medal 2 times; first in the Atlanta’s 1996 Summer Olympics and finally they took home the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics men hockey gold. Netherlands also have won 4 silver medals and bronze medal three times.

The Oceania teams of Australia and New Zealand have taken the gold medal too with Australia have won the men field hockey gold medal once, in the 2004 Summer Olympics while New Zealand took home the 1976 gold medal.

The other six teams which have qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men hockey event but have never won gold medal are Ireland, who took home the 1908 Summer Olympics men hockey silver medal. Spain has also taken home the silver medal three times; in the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics, in the 1996 and in the Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics.

It’s unfortunate that the only nation that have won 3 gold medal in the hockey event at the Summer Olympics did not qualify; this is Pakistan, who ended Indian winning streak in the 1960 Rome’s Summer Olympics and went ahead to win the 1968 and 1984 gold medals. From all the seven nations which have won the 22 Summer Olympics men hockey gold medals, only Pakistan will not participate in the Rio 2016 Games.

Only three of the men hockey qualified nations which have never won any medal in any of the 22 Summer Olympics edition which has men hockey featuring. These three nations are the host Brazil, Argentina and Canada. We wish the three nations all the best, maybe one or all of them will get in the Summer Olympics medalist of the Summer Olympics men hockey event.

The table below has all the details and the list of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics men Hockey qualified teams as well as the details of their qualifications.

RIO 2016 SUMMER OLYMPICS MEN FIELD HOCKEY QUALIFIED NATION/TEAM
Asia
Qualified Nation/Team	Qualification Date	Year	Name of the Qualification Championship	Host City	Host Country	Remark
India	20th Sep to 2nd Oct	2014	2014 Asian Games	Incheon	South Korea
Central and North America
Qualified Nation/Team	Qualification Date	Year	Name of the Qualification Championship	Host City	Host Country		Remark
Canada	3rd June to14th June	2015	2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals	Buenos Aires	Argentina
Europe
Qualified Nation/Team	Qualification Date	Year	Name of the Qualification Championship	Host City	Host Country		Remark
Great Britain	20th June to 5 July	2015	2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals	Antwerp	Belgium
Belgium	20th June to 5 July	2015	2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals	Antwerp	Belgium
Spain	3rd June to14th June	2015	2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals	Buenos Aires	Argentina
Netherlands	21st Aug to 29th Aug	2015	2015 EuroHockey Nations Championship	London	Great Britain
Germany	3rd June to14th June	2015	2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals	Buenos Aires	Argentina
Ireland	20th June to 5 July	2015	2014 and 2015 Hockey World League Semifinals	Antwerp	Belgium
Oceania
Qualified Nation/Team	Qualification Date	Year	Name of the Qualification Championship	Host City	Host Country		Remark
Australia	21st Oct to 25th Oct	2015	2015 Oceania Cup	Stratford	New Zealand
New Zealand	23rd Oct to1st Nov	2015	2015 African Qualifying Tournament	Randburg	South Africa		South Africa won the title but declined to take the slot for Africa New Zealand had the next best qualification
South America
Qualified Nation/Team	Qualification Date	Year	Name of the Qualification Championship	Host City	Host Country		Remark
Brazil	14th July to 25th July	2015	2015 Pan American Games	Toronto	Canada		Despite being the host they had to qualify by beating USA
Argentina	14th July to 25th July	2015	2015 Pan American Games	Toronto	Canada