The Australia men's national field hockey team (nicknamed the Kookaburras) is one of the nation's most successful top-level sporting teams. They are the only Australian team in any sport to receive medals at six straight Summer Olympic Games (1992–2012). The Kookaburras placed in the top four in every Olympics between 1980 and 2012 winning gold in 2004; in 2016, the Kookaburras placed sixth.[3] They won the Hockey World Cup in 1986, 2010 and 2014. They won the Hockey Champions Trophy 15 times, the most by any team. They also won the Pro League and World League twice each.
The Kookaburras' inability to win an Olympic gold medal despite their perennial competitiveness, led many in the Australian hockey community to speak of a "curse" afflicting the team,[4] finally broken in 2004 with the win in Athens. However, they failed to win Gold after that after losses in subsequent Olympics including a loss to Belgium in the Gold Medal Match of 2020 Tokyo Olympics - the Kookaburras instead won the silver medal.[5]
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Australia's first men's team competed at the Olympics in field hockey at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[7]
Should Australia win the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics they will become the first national team in field hockey history to hold all four international titles available to them simultaneously. They would hold titles in the 2012 Olympics, 2010 World Cup, 2011 Champions Trophy and their continental championship (2011 Oceania Cup) at the same time. Along with those four titles Australia also holds the Commonwealth Games title from the 2010 championships.
Barry Dancer/Brent Dancer and Ric Charlesworth/Jonathan Charlesworth are two pairs of father as coach and son as player while both were affiliated with the national team in those positions.[12][21]
^ abDepartment of Sport, Recreation and Tourism; Australian Sport Commission (1985). Australian Sport, a profile. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Publish Service. pp. 177–178. ISBN0644036672.
^Dorling Kindersley Limited. (1999). The Olympic Games. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Dorling Kindersley. p. 320. ISBN1864660635. OCLC57337092.
^Dorling Kindersley Limited. (1999). The Olympic Games. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Dorling Kindersley. p. 327. ISBN1864660635. OCLC57337092.
^Dorling Kindersley Limited. (1999). The Olympic Games. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Dorling Kindersley. p. 335. ISBN1864660635. OCLC57337092.
^Dorling Kindersley Limited. (1999). The Olympic Games. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Dorling Kindersley. p. 343. ISBN1864660635. OCLC57337092.
^Department of Sport, Recreation and Tourism; Australian Sport Commission (1985). Australian Sport, a profile. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Publish Service. p. 116. ISBN0644036672.