Great Britain's Ali Wilson believes the team's transformation from a regimented unit four years ago to the open, attacking side they currently are increased their medal chances exponentially.
After coming fifth in Beijing, the hockey team's best finish since the gold medal win of 1988, coach Jason Lee made the decision to radically alter the style he wanted to play.
It paid immediate dividends as England won their first major title at the 2009 European Championships and 12 of that squad will lead the challenge at London 2012.
Great Britain are now more Barcelona than Bolton, especially in terms of how their players interchange positions, and Wilson said that gives them a much greater chance of winning gold.
"At the time fifth (in Beijing) was really good for us," the Beeston star, who is nominally a defender but is regularly employed up front, told Press Association Sport.
"We were pretty satisfied with how our games went last time but we have moved on since then,
"A lot of that team are still together and the reason a lot of that team carried on after the last Olympics was to improve and do better than last time.
"Results over the last few years have given us reason to be optimistic.
"A key part of our game is the flexibility and people playing in an attacking style.
"That means when you pass the ball running forward to create space and offer passes and because of that you end up all over the pitch. It happens quite a lot and people have to be secure in whatever position they end up in because the game moves on too quickly for you to reorganise and get back to where your name was on the team sheet."