London 2012: the Countdown Series: Hockey Preview!

31 days to go until the first day of the London Olympics. This is a preview of the hockey at the London Olympics. Hockey as in field hockey. The original hockey.

The site of the hockey at the London Olympics is Riverbank Arena (pictured). Usually hockey pitches are green, but for this year, it's blue. I'm guessing they're taking a stab at the blue turf used for American football at Boise State University. BSU's blue turf and the red turf for American football at Eastern Washington University are among a few examples of colored turfs in the world. Riverbank Arena is joining the crowd. As you can see, the boundaries are colored pink. Pink and blue are among the official colors of this year's Games of the XXX Olympiad.

As for the competition, like the United States is to basketball and Hungary is to water polo, India has dominated nine times in men's hockey, including six straight Olympic wins from Amsterdam 1928 to Melbourne 1956. Their run for seven straight was derailed when they lost to their archrivals-the Pakistanis at Rome 1960. The Indians rebounded and defeated the Pakistanis at Tokyo 1964. India's last gold in men's hockey was at Moscow 1980, when they defeated Spain in the final. Germany are the defending champions from Beijing 2008, defeating Spain in the final.

On the women's side, Australia has the most wins, with three, beginning with their win in the final over South Korea at Seoul 1988, and back to back, beginning with Atlanta 1996 with their win in the final over South Korea (again) and in their own backyard, defeating Argentina in the final at Sydney 2000. The Netherlands are the defending champions from Beijing 2008, defeating China in the final.

24 teams-twelve men and twelve women-have qualified for the London games this year. Here are their groupings:

MEN
Pool A
Australia (AUS)
Great Britain (GBR)
Spain (ESP)
Pakistan (PAK)
Argentina (ARG)
South Africa (RSA)

Pool B
Germany (GER)
Netherlands (NED)
South Korea (KOR)
New Zealand (NZL)
India (IND)
Belgium (BEL)

WOMEN
Pool A
Netherlands (NED)
Great Britain (GBR)
China (CHN)
South Korea (KOR)
Japan (JPN)
Belgium (BEL)

Pool B
Argentina (ARG)
Germany (GER)
New Zealand (NZL)
Australia (AUS)
United States (USA)
South Africa (RSA)

Up next: a look at weightlifting.