Reuters
Rio de Janeiro, August 6: Germany might be the twice Olympic champions defending their men’s field hockey title but top-ranked Australia will be the team to beat when the competition begins Saturday in Rio.
Since 1992 Australia have won a medal at every Olympic tournament and the World Cup winners will be the favourites to clinch what would be their second gold medal.
The Kookaburras only managed bronze four years ago in London despite being overwhelming favourites, triggering a lot of soul searching from the men in gold and green.
“Yeah, we had to do a lot of long hard looking at ourselves, but it paid off ultimately,” said 32-year-old Australia squad member Glenn Turner. “Leading up to London we had trained really hard but there was a very different feel to the squad compared to this time around.”
Mark Knowles and Jamie Dwyer, a five-time IHF player of the year, provide Australia with a wealth of experience with Rio being their fourth Games.
Knowles said the team, who face New Zealand in their first match, would settle for nothing but gold in Brazil. “When we go to the Olympic Games as the Australian men’s hockey team we want to win, we don’t want to get bronze, just make the semis or play off for fifth,” asserted the midfielder.
Britain, Belgium, Spain and the hosts are also in Australia’s group.
Germany, who triumphed in Beijing and London, are ranked third in the world. The squad chosen by head coach Valentin Altenburg contain five Olympic gold medallists from London.
The champions have been pooled with the Netherlands, Argentina, India, Ireland and Canada, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.