Hockey, Men

The Western boycott of the Moscow Games greatly devalued the hockey tournament. Apart from complete boycotts by West Germany and Pakistan, the hockey federations of Australia, Britain and the Netherlands also withdrew their teams. In fact, only three of the qualified teams and one of the substitute nations entered. Representatives of Africa and the Americas were added, but Tanzania and Cuba really had little business competing at the Olympics. The Tanzanians finished the tournament with an average of nearly 10 goals against, losing 18-0 to India.

The best nations were Spain and India, fifth and sixth at the 1978 World Championships. In the preliminary round-robin, Spain and India tied two all. Because of another Indian draw against Poland, Spain topped the tables. In the final, the two teams met again, but now India was the better team. After gaining a 3-0 lead, they held Spain to a 4-3 defeat. The bronze medal was won by the Soviet Union, which had never before played Olympic hockey, and had only qualified on account of being the host nation.