Field hockey at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

In 1980, there was an International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) separate from the mainly male Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH). Because the FIH was the international federation affiliated to the International Olympic Committee, it supervised the Olympic tournament. The FIH and IFWHA agreed that qualification for the Olympics would be decided by a joint FIH–IFWHA committee based on the results over the previous two years, including the 1978 (FIH) and 1979 (IFWHA) women's world championships.[3] Five teams qualified to join the host Soviet team, namely the Netherlands, West Germany, the United States, New Zealand, and Great Britain[4] (taking the place of Wales, England, and Scotland, who finished 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively in the 1979 tournament[5]). However, all five teams withdrew as part of the U.S.-led boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the U.S. and of West Germany boycotted completely, and while the other three NOCs competed in some sports, their hockey governing bodies pulled out. The organising committee sent out invitations to other countries to make up numbers.[6] Ireland controversially declined an invitation. [7]

• Official FIH website