The women's field hockey tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was the 8th edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held over a thirteen-day period beginning on 10 August, and culminating with the medal finals on 22 August. All games were played at the hockey field constructed on the Olympic Green in Beijing, China. The Netherlands won the gold medal for the second time after defeating the hosts China 2–0 in the final. Argentina won the bronze medal by defeating the defending champions Germany 3–1.

Competition format

The twelve teams in the tournament were divided into two pools of six, with each team initially playing round-robin games within its respective pool. Following the completion of the round-robin, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the semifinals. All other teams played classification matches to determine the final tournament rankings. The two semi-final winners met for the gold medal match, while the semi-final losers played in the bronze medal match.

Qualification

Each of the continental champions from five federations and the hosts China received an automatic berth. The European federation received two extra quotas, while Oceanian received one extra quota, based upon the FIH World Rankings at the completion of the 2006 World Cup. In addition to the three teams qualifying through the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, the following twelve teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, competed in this tournament.

Umpires

Fifteen umpires for the women's event were appointed by the FIH. During each match, a video umpire was used to assist the on-field umpires in determining if a goal had been legally scored.

Squads

Results

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00)

First round

Pool A

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Pool B

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Fifth to twelfth place classification

Eleventh and twelfth place

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Ninth and tenth place

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Seventh and eighth place

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Fifth and sixth place

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Medal round

Semi-finals

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Bronze medal match

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Gold medal match

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Final standings

As per statistical convention in field hockey, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Goalscorers