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Hockey

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Few, if any, Olympic sports this year will provoke as much anticipation among Australians as hockey.

The sport, although being far from the most popular in the country participation-wise, has yielded Australia a bountiful medal harvest, since 1988.

Since 1964, Australia has won 10 Olympic hockey medals, four of them gold. Perhaps the most celebrated was the Kookaburras' triumph in Athens, which came after years of heartbreak for Australia's men's hockey team.

Throughout most of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s the Australian men's team was the best in the world.

But until 2004 it had been unable to break through with a gold medal performance. Although the Australian men had won three silver and three bronze medals, the quality of these teams suggests they should have been much more successful.

Conversely, the Australian women's hockey team has enjoyed great success since hockey became an Olympic sport for women in 1980.

The Hockeyroos, as they are now known, won gold, in 1988, 1996 and 2000. But they were finally overshadowed by the Kookaburras in 2004 and surprisingly failed to win a medal of any hue.

Hockey's history dates back through the millennia. Depictions of a sport resembling hockey have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to around 2000 BC.

A game called paganica, which involved hitting a feather-filled ball with a club, was played by the Romans. Other hockey-like games have been recorded in early civilisations in Africa, the Middle East and Central America.

The modern game, like so many other Olympic sports, came to prominence in Britain in the late 19th century. In 1886 the British Hockey Association was formed, and the first international matches followed soon after.

The game was introduced to the Olympics by the British at the London Games in 1908. In one of the quaint twists which are common in early Olympic history, Great Britain won the gold, silver and bronze medals at that first Olympic hockey tournament.

The sport reappeared at Olympic level in 1920 and was added to the program permanently in 1928. Women's hockey has been on the Olympic program since 1980.

Hockey has been one of Britain's most successful exports to India and Pakistan as a result of its colonial presence on the subcontinent.

India won six straight hockey gold medals from 1928 to 1956. Pakistan won the 1960 and 1968 golds while India won in 1964. India also tasted success in 1980 and Pakistan in 1984.

Along the way the two nations have produced some of the game's most legendary characters.

One such player was India's Dhyan Chand who won three gold medals. But his biggest claim to fame was playing barefoot in the 1936 final against Germany.

Chand also played in India's 24-1 victory over the United States in 1932, setting Olympic goalscoring and winning margin records unlikely to ever be broken.

The sport has also given rise to some massive upsets, none bigger than the winners of the inaugural women's gold medal.

Zimbabwe took the gold in 1980 after being a last-minute invitee due to the boycott by several nations of the Moscow Games.

The team was selected the weekend before the Games and the International Olympic Committee had to pay the team's travel bill.

So pleased by the team's success was the nation's sports minister that he presented team members with an ox on their return to Zimbabwe.