Mens and Womens Olympic Hockey Champions

World Hockey Main Page Mens and Womens World Hockey Championship Past Winners Mens and Womens Olympic Games Past Hockey Champions World Junior Tournament Winners World Cup of Hockey (Canada Cup)

Mens Olympic Hockey Champions

The Olympics Ice Hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. In 1986, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to allow professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games starting in 1988. The National Hockey League (NHL) was initially reluctant to allow its players to compete because the Olympics are held in the middle of the NHL season, and the league would have to halt play if many of its players participated. Eventually, NHL players started participating in the Olympics in 1998. The games of the tournament follow the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), The format of the tournament is preliminary round-robin games followed by a medal round playoff.

Mens Olympic Hockey Champions Past Winners