The field hockey tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy was contested from August 26 to September 9, with sixteen participating teams. Only men competed in field hockey at these Games. Pakistan won the gold medal, defeating India in the final and ending India's run of six successive Olympic gold medals in field hockey. Spain won the bronze medal.[1]
Participating nations
Sixteen teams were placed into four preliminary groups of four teams each. After a preliminary round-robin set of matches, the top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
^ abNew Zealand and the Netherlands finished on equal points at the conclusion of the pool stage, resulting in a match to determine second place in the pool, which New Zealand won 2–1.
^ abAustralia and Poland finished on equal points at the conclusion of the pool stage, resulting in a match to determine second place in the pool, which Australia won 2–0.
Quarter-final losers continued to play classification matches to determine 5th–8th place. The Great Britain versus Kenya match lasted 127 minutes and needed six overtime periods to determine the winner.[2]
The match was abandoned due to darkness with the score tied at 1-1 after 40 minutes of extra time. Australia was initially awarded the match after a coin toss, but after an appeal by Kenya, the match was declared drawn and a replay was ordered.
After the Australia-Kenya match was declared a draw and a replay ordered on appeal, this match was declared null and void, and a replay was ordered between New Zealand and the winner of the Australia-Kenya replay.
The seventh-place game between Germany and Kenya was scratched as the German team had flown home after the Closing Ceremony. Both teams were awarded joint seventh place.
Ninth to twelfth place classification
As Poland declined to participate in the classification matches, they were awarded twelfth place: the other three teams played a round-robin set of matches.
An Italian traffic policeman on duty just outside the field blew his whistle. The Belgians thought it was the umpire's whistle and stopped playing, whereupon the French scored the only goal of the game.[2]
As Denmark declined to participate in the classification matches, they were awarded sixteenth place. The other three teams played a round-robin set of matches.
