President’s View 

World-level events and major Olympic announcements contributed to a busy period on and off the pitch for the International Hockey Federation in the past month. 

In early July, I joined my fellow International Olympic Committee members at the IOC Session in Singapore. The two most significant events in Singapore were the election of the host city for the Games of the XXX Olympiad and the vote to determine the sports programme in 2012. 

The London’s election as host city for the 2012 Games will also provide a wonderful new venue for our sport and, combined with the strong level of support for hockey in the United Kingdom, the Olympic hockey competition in 2012 is promising to be one of the best ever staged. 

More important for hockey than London’s victory however was the vote that retained our sport on the Olympic Programme for 2012. While FIH was always confident that hockey would be rightly retained on the Olympic Programme, the vote was extremely stressful for the representatives of all 28 Olympic sports. 

I was grateful to have FIH Secretary General Peter Cohen also supporting hockey’s cause in prior to the vote, along with FIH Vice President Annabel Dillon, was present in her capacity on the organising committee. The Session was extremely well-run and the organising committee are to be congratulated for their efforts.

The announcement that two sports, softball and baseball, had been dropped from the 2012 Olympic Programme was a shock for the international sporting federations. 

The fate of softball and baseball clearly shows that all sports must be diligent and progressive throughout the Olympic cycle to strengthen their position if the same voting process is repeated in four years time. 

While the IOC Session was underway in Singapore, the men’s Rabo Hockey Junior World Cup was entering its final stages in Rotterdam. 

After winning the silver medal at the 2001 Junior World Cup, it was pleasing to see Argentina complete the next step and reach the top level of the podium this time. 

A junior world crown, their senior men’s team’s elevation into the 2006 Champions Trophy, and a new coach in former Las Leonas mentor Sergio Vigil, all point to Argentina enjoying an extended stay in the top echelon of men’s hockey. 

After the IOC Session and the Junior World Cup, hockey attention turned to the USA and the women’s Rabobank Hockey Champions Challenge. The tournament marked the first world-level event in the US since the 1996 Olympic Games and was hosted in conjunction with the United States Field Hockey Association’s National Future’s Championship.

This exposed more than 600 young hockey players to a major international tournament for the first time - an important feature to assist the development of the sport in the United States. 

On the field, New Zealand’s experience came to the fore at the right time and they deservedly claimed the title to earn a place in the 2006 Champions Trophy. 

To finish the month, World Games 2005 in Duisburg Germany were held with indoor hockey included on the programme as an invitational sport for the first time. The Games were well-organised and all teams enjoyed the experience of the multi-sport competition.

Els van Breda Vriesman
FIH President