There are two events on the Olympic program:

Men's Tournament                 Women's Tournament

In each of the men's and women's tournaments, the 12 teams will be divided into two pools of six teams.  In the preliminary round robin, each team will play the other teams within its pool.  In pool play, teams receive three points for a win, one point for a tie and no points for a loss.  The top two teams in each pool advance to the semi-finals.  The remaining teams play classification matches to determine fifth through 12th place.

In the semi-finals, the Pool A winner will play the Pool B runner-up while the Pool B winner will play the Pool A runner-up.  The semi-final winners will play in the gold medal match while the semi-final losers will play for the bronze medal.

The temporary Hockey Centre located in the Olympic Park will have two separate pitches.  The main competition pitch will have a capacity of 16,000 and the second pitch will be a warm-up and contingency pitch with 300 seats.

London 2012 Storylines:
The all-time leading medallist in Olympic field hockey with 14 medals (4 G, 4 S, 6 B) is the Netherlands.  Eight of these medals were won in the men's tournament with the remaining six won in the women's tournament.  India sits in second place with 11 medals (8 G, 1 S, 2 B), all won in the men's tournament.  Australia also has 11 medals (4 G, 3 S, 4 B) with three of the gold medals won in the women's tournament.

Canada's Outlook:
Canada has competed in men's field hockey at six Olympic Games.  Canada's best-ever result is 10th place, achieved four times, including Beijing 2008.  Canada's men's team will be looking to improve upon this finish.  As of January 2012, they were ranked 14th in the FIH World Ranking List.  The team were unable to secure an Olympic berth at the Pan Am Games as they were defeated 3-1 by Argentina in the tournament's final and were forced to settle for silver.

Canada has competed in women's field hockey at three Olympic Games: Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992.  The best-ever result was a fifth place finish (out of six teams) in Los Angeles 1984.  As of January 2012, the Canadian women's team is ranked 20th in the FIH World Ranking List and is the fourth-ranked Pan American team.  The team finished fourth overall at the Pan Am Games, falling 3-0 to Chile in the bronze medal game.

Both Canadian teams will attempt to qualify for London 2012 at the Olympic Qualification tournament in Delhi, India in February.

International Teams – At a Glance:

MEN

Australia

• 2010 World Cup Champions
• 2008 Olympic bronze medallists
• Champions Trophy winners in 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008

• 2010 World Cup runners-up
• 2008 Olympic Champions

• 2010 World Cup Champions
• 2008 Olympic bronze medallists
• Champions Trophy winners in 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008

• 2010 World Cup runners-up
• 2008 Olympic Champions
• 2012 Champions Trophy winner and 2010 runners-up