Sunday, November 5th, 2023.- To talk of field hockey is to talk directly about Argentina, and specifically, the "Leonas". The leading representatives of the discipline at the continental level fully demonstrated their dominance in Santiago 2023 by adding their eighth gold in the Pan American Games.

The Argentinian team arrived in Chile with the mission to defend their gold medal from Lima 2019, and they did so without any major challenges, as they did not lose any matches.

In the group stage, the "Leonas" defeated the United States, Uruguay, and Trinidad and Tobago, scoring 34 goals and conceding only one.

In the semi-finals, they defeated Canada 3-0, and in the final, they asserted their dominance against the United States, winning 2-1. In summary, the "Leonas" scored 39 goals and only conceded two throughout the competition.

This solidified Argentina's dominance in field hockey, as they had previously won gold in Indianapolis 1987, La Habana 1991, Mar del Plata 1995, Winnipeg 1999, Santo Domingo 2003, Río de Janeiro 2007, Lima 2019, and Santiago 2023.

Collective sports brought Argentina the most joy in Santiago 2023, as they were initially low on the medal table with few gold medals. Thanks to field hockey (both male's and female's), basketball, and rugby 7, they made a comeback and finished in seventh place with 17 gold medals. While it didn't match their tally in Lima (30 gold medals), they reacted and increased their gold medal count in the final days of the competition.

Written by Pedro Marín Roldán; translated by Andrés Castro / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Felipe Poga / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport