Women in Sports: Field Hockey

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff
  • Constance M.K. Applebee is credited with bringing field hockey to the United States in 1901. She had come from England to the U.S. to take a physical education course at Harvard University. The first game she organized was played on concrete with ice hockey sticks in a courtyard at Harvard.
  • In 1922 women formed the United States Field Hockey Association. Today the association has almost 14,000 members.
  • Field hockey was added to the Olympics in 1980. The Zimbabwe women's field hockey team went undefeated in the tournament to win the first Olympic gold medal. In 2000, Australia took the gold medal, becoming the first country to win three golds in women's field hockey. Germany won the gold at the 2004 games in Athens.
  • Today field hockey is one of the most popular women's college sports.
  • In 2007, the Netherlands won the BDO Hockey Champions Trophy held in Quilmes, Argentina.
  • In 2012, the Netherlands defeated world champion Argentina 2-0 to earn gold in the women's field hockey final at the London Olympics. Great Britain earned bronze in a 3-1 game with New Zealand.

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