Hockey was introduced in Argentina by
English immigrants at the beginning of the 20th century, and the first women's teams were officially formed in 1909. In 1997,
Sergio Vigil, a former player for the
men's national team, was appointed coach. Under his leadership,
Las Leonas achieved their first
World Hockey Cup title, their first
Olympic medals, their first
Champions Trophy medals, and many other achievements. The team went from having a rather limited audience to becoming a national sensation, with some of the players even appearing as models in advertising campaigns.
Nickname Throughout its history, the team has developed a reputation for being tenacious even when a match appears to be lost. For this reason, a
lioness was chosen as their symbol when the team qualified for the
2000 Summer Olympics. During the second round of games, Argentina played against the powerful
Dutch team, and they chose this occasion to place the image of a lioness on their shirts for the first time. The image was designed by then-player
Inés Arrondo together with Vigil's sister-in-law. Argentina won that match, went on to win the silver medal, and
Las Leonas were born. Subsequently, the junior (under 21) team is called
Las Leoncitas ("the baby lionesses" or "the lioness cubs"). The lioness logo was redesigned in 2006 by the team kit supplier,
Adidas, along with
Confederación Argentina de Hockey and even some of the most representative players. This is slightly different from the original, showing the lioness' tail pretending to be a hockey stick while holding a ball. The nickname also falls in line with an unwritten Argentine tradition of naming national teams after
big cats: the men's
field hockey team is called
Los Leones ("The Lions"), the men's
rugby union team is called
Los Pumas ("The
Pumas"), and the women's
volleyball team is known as
Las Panteras ("The
Panthers"). == Tournament records ==