Men's Field Hockey Prelims (x2)

To end our very exciting first day of Olympic games...we headed up to the field hockey stadiums. Each ticket comes with two games, so we saw Korea v. New Zealand and Spain v. Belgium. I'd never seen field hockey, but it was still very exciting to watch. We were in the front row with some amazing seats, making it all the more fun!


Our luck on this day had truly been ridiculous. We were also able to buy one water polo and one track ticket for a very cheap price after the games finished. Yay Olympics!


Being so close to all the action makes it far more exciting. These guys are incredibly adept at using their sticks. At one point...one of the Koreans through the ball across the field with his stick, and another managed to catch it!

This is a view of a side penalty hit...very exciting. The guys watching the goal put on gloves and face masks so they don't get hit in the face.


This is the Belgium team practicing/warming up before their game. They did a lot of tricks so it was fun to watch.

And here are the Fuwa Characters running around the stadium for audience enjoyment. One of the workers (I think HuanHuan) took off the head so that someone could pose with it! Mascots aren't allowed to do that!?

Each country has the national anthem played before the game. This was only a preliminary match, so there wasn't the added excitement of having a medal at stake.

Judge Grime...

Some fun action shots: