Women's Olympic Qualifying
Tournament Preview
March 23 - April 2, 2000 | Milton
Keynes, England
Top five teams earn automatic qualification to
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
US Game Summaries
The Women's Qualifying Tournament for the XXXVIIth Olympic Games gets
underway March 24-April 2, 2000 in Milton Keynes. Five teams from the Tournament will join
host Australia, The Netherlands, Korea, South Africa and Argentina in the 10-team women's
Olympic Tournament in Sydney.
POOL A
Germany
The 1998 World Cup bronze medalist, Germany narrowly missed an
automatic berth in the Olympic Games with a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands in the
championship game of the 5th European Nations Cup. Britta Becker and Heike Latszch will be
looking for trips to their third Olympic Games after winning silver medals in Barcelona in
1992 and placing sixth in Atlanta in 1996. Olympian Natacha Keller was the leading scorer
(5) and MVP at the 1999 Champions Trophy, while Latszch earned Player of the Tournament
honors at the European Nations Cup. Becker tied for the scoring title at the Nations Cup
with 11 goals.
India
After going 0-7 and finishing a disappointing 12th place at the 1998
World Cup, India bounced back to place second at the 13th Asian Games in 1998 while
placing second at the 4th Asia Cup in 1999. Considered one of the world’s top
players, Pritam Rani led all scorers (8 gls) at the Asia Cup to help India go undefeated
in pool play. In its only previous Olympic appearance, India placed 4th in Moscow in 1980
Spain
Spain appeared in each of the last two Olympic Games, winning the gold
medal in Barcelona and placing 8th in Atlanta. With a veteran team that includes Olympic
gold medalists Carmen Barea and Sonia Barrio, Spain placed fourth at the European
Nation’s Cup in 1999 with Barrio ranking among the tournament’s top scorers with
five goals. Spain’s roster is expected to include 1996 Olympic goalkeeper Elena
Carrion as well as Olympians Lucia Lopez, Maria Feito, Maider Telleria and Elena Urkizu.
Spain won a Four Nation Tournament in early 2000 earning the victory over Qualifier foes
Germany and Great Britain.
Ireland
The only team in Pool A without an Olympic background, Ireland made its first World Cup
appearance in 1986 (12th) and demonstrated its passion to the sport by hosting the World
Cup in Dublin in 1994 (11th). Former University of Maryland standout Lynsey McVicker
ranked among the leading scorers at the 5th European Nations Cup with five goals.
Goalkeeper Tara Browne, back Daphne Sixsmith and sweeper Arlene Thompson comprise the
backbone of an Irish defense that helped the team to a ninth-place finish at the European
Nation’s Cup in 1999.
USA
USA head coach Tracey Belbin won a gold medal as a
member of the 1988 Australia Olympic team, and the US mentor has her new squad aspiring to
the same goal.
Showing vast improvement from its eighth place finish at the 1998 World
Cup, the U.S. team placed second at the 1999 Pan Am Games and earned another second place
finish at the Sydney International Hockey Challenge that served as the Olympic venue test
event
The USA squad includes eight members of the 1996 Olympic Team including
two-time Olympian and FIH President’s XI pick Tracey Fuchs. Olympians joining Fuchs
on the USA side include Kris Fillat, Kelli James, Katie Kauffman, Antoinette Lucas, Jill
Reeve, Cindy Werley and Andrea Wieland. The squad also includes World Cup selections Kate
Barber, Chris DeBow, Michelle Vizzuso and goalkeepers Peggy Storrar and Jana Withrow along
with team veterans Tara Jelley, Kristen Holmes and Eleanor Race.
Not far removed from their collegiate careers, Mimi Smith and Nancy
Pelligreen are joined on the USA team by 1999 NCAA standouts Carla Tagliente, Jana Toepel,
Tracey Larson, Coleen Kreiger and Kristen McCann.
The USA has qualified for four of the five previous Olympic
women’s tournaments, including a bronze-medal performance in Los Angeles in 1984. The
team missed the 1992 Seoul Games after a ninth place finish at the 1991 Olympic Qualifying
Tournament, and although the team qualified for the inaugural 1980 women’s Olympic
tournament in Moscow, the team stayed home as a result of the US boycott of the Games.
POOL B
Great Britain
The qualifier’s host country, Great Britain has appeared in three
straight Olympic Games where it earned a pair of fouth-place finishes in Seoul and Atlanta
and a bronze medal in Barcelona. Loaded with offensive firepower, Great Britain’s
roster could include three of the European Nation’s Cup scoring leaders in Tina
Cullen (9), Jane Sixsmith (8) and Scotland’s Rhona Simpson (5). Sixsmith collected
her 100th international goal earlier this year. All three athletes appeared on the Great
Britain side at the 1996 Atlanta Games. .
China
China has never sent a field hockey team to the Olympic Games in either
the men’s or women’s tournaments. A seventh place finish at the 1991 Olympic
Qualifying Tournament kept the Chinese home in 1992, and a sixth place finish at the 1995
qualifier did the same in 1996. However, the team is not without some major international
experience after playing in three straight World Cup tournaments. Striker Yang Huiping was
the top goal scorer at the 13th Asian Games where she helped lead China to a bronze medal.
Hui Cheng captained China’s 1998 World Cup team and was joined by Junxia Huang, Chen
Hong, Jiuyan Wang and goalkeeper Yali Nie in Utrecht.
Japan
A 10th place finish at the 1997 World Cup qualifier was all Japan
needed to capture the final spot in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Japan narrowly
edged out Canada for the final spot thanks to a 4-2 win over the Canadians and a 1-1 draw
with England at the 1997 tournament in Harare, Zimbabwe. Japan placed fourth at the 13th
Asian Games behind rivals Korea, India and China. The teams placed in the same order at
the Asia Cup in 1999 with Japan again losing to China in the bronze medal game.
Although Japan has never participated in the Olympic tournament, it has
competed in three World Cups in 1978, ‘81 and ‘90. The team recorded its best
World Cup finish in 1978 with a sixth place finish in Madrid.
New Zealand
A pair of losses to defending World and Olympic Champion Australia in
the Oceania Cup relegated New Z ealand to the Olympic Qualifier, but the tourney could be
just another stop in an Olympic tune-up tour for the Kiwis. Considered one of the
world’s premier strikers, Mandy Smith was named to the 1999 FIH President’s XI
Team and is expected to be joined by World Cup teammates Moira Senior and Robyn Mathews.
Senior ranked among the scoring leaders at the Champions Trophy with three goals while
Mathews was selected to join Smith on the FIH President’s XI Team.
New Zealand has competed in two previous Olympic Games. The team placed
sixth in the 1994 Los Angeles Games and eighth at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Russia
Moscow hosted the very first Olympic women’s tournament in 1980,
but since that time, no teams from the former Soviet Union have appeared in the Games.
Russia will try to change all of that after recording a surprising fourth place finish at
the European Nations Cup. The Russians took the highly-regarded German team into penalty
strokes in the Cup semifinals before losing in strokes, 4-1. Russia eventually lost to
England, 5-0, in the bronze medal game.
Marina Tchegourdaeva ranked among the scoring leaders at the European
Nations Cup with seven goals while Elena Polovkova added five goals. Russia appeared in
the 1994 World Cup where the team placed 12th in the 12-team field.
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