Field hockey continues to be renewed: Paris 2024, the last Games with water-based courts

The International Hockey Federation was responsible of confirming to The Times of India, through its sports and development director, Jon Wyatt, that Paris 2024 will mark the end of the Olympic tournaments with water-based playing fields after 48 years and 13 consecutive competitions played on that surface.

Wyatt explained that significant progress has been made in recent months in the development of new types of grass, which will not alter players’ performance levels. In addition, he explained that the gradual transition process has already begun since the first pilot test of a competition held on an unirrigated field was held during June in Lausanne 2022 (hockey 5s).

In turn, the British manager remarked that the rehearsals will continue in 2023 and that they will have their first major event at the Women’s Hockey World Cup 5s to be held in Muscat, Oman, in January of next year, seven months before Paris 2024.

The change in question had been emerging since 2018 as one of the major projects of the FIH and has stood out as a central pillar of the current administration, led by the Pakistani Tayyab Ikram since November 2022. Wyatt added that “in Tokyo 2020, 40% less water was used than in Rio 2016″ and hinted that the commitment to a drastic reduction in water use is what drives the initiative.

The new type of turf will not be the first significant transformation promoted by FIH in field hockey in a time close to this part in its quest to adjust to the global demand to offer a more dynamic, attractive and changing sport and to remain on the Olympic program.

By case, since September 2014, the two times of 35 minutes have been replaced by four times of 15 minutes, which represented a decrease of 10 minutes in the total net time. The introduction of hockey 5s at the Youth Olympic Games in both Nanjing 2014 and Buenos Aires 2018 with two 10-minute times not only further shortened playing times but also the number of players representing each country. Significantly smaller squads mean, for example, far fewer athletes to be held in the Olympic village. The possibility of Hockey 7s, with smaller playing fields, being included as an Olympic sport is currently under review.

This downward trend in playing time and in the number of players finds a possible horizon in a discipline that is not Olympic: the Indoor World Cup to be held in Pretoria, South Africa, between February 5 and 11 will mark the sixth edition of a competition that is played with six players per side and whose duration is four periods of 10 minutes each.