Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

International basketball tournament

16th Olympic Basketball Tournament

Athens 2004

Tournament details

Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

Host nation

Greece

City

Athens

Duration

15–28 August 2004

Men's tournament

Teams

Medals
Gold medalists	Argentina
Silver medalists	Italy
Bronze medalists	United States

Women's tournament

Teams

Medals
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Australia
Bronze medalists	Russia

Tournaments

← Sydney 2000

Beijing 2008 →

Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Tournament
	men	women
Squads
	men	women
Qualification
	men	women
v t e

Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the sixteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena, a part of the Hellinikon Olympic Complex, in Athens, for the preliminary rounds, with the later stages being held in the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex.

Italy and Argentina warming up before the game.

Argentina, led by NBA standouts like Manu Ginóbili and Luis Scola, won the country's first and only gold medal in the event.

In Olympic basketball tournaments, 12 teams take part. The host nation (Greece in 2004) automatically receives a berth in the tournament. By winning the two World Championship tournaments in 2002, FR Yugoslavia, now named Serbia and Montenegro, also put a team into the men's tournament and the United States a team in the women's tournament.

The remaining 10 spots in each tournament were allocated by the five Olympic zones. Each of these zones held its own tournaments to select its entries in the Olympic tournament. Africa was allocated one spot in each of these, Oceania was allocated two apiece, and Europe was allocated three. Furthermore, the Americas were allocated three teams for the men's tournament and just one in the women's tournament, whereas Asia was allocated just one in the men's tournament and three in the women's tournament.

The United States team's third-place finish in the men's tournament was an embarrassment for the country that birthed the sport. The following Summer Olympics, the U.S. was represented by the Redeem Team, sporting an improved roster led by international superstars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade, under the coaching of Mike Krzyzewski, and returned the gold medal to America.

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men details	Argentina (ARG) Carlos Delfino Gabriel Fernández Manu Ginóbili Leonardo Gutiérrez Walter Herrmann Alejandro Montecchia Andrés Nocioni Fabricio Oberto Juan Ignacio Sánchez Luis Scola Hugo Sconochini Rubén Wolkowyski	Italy (ITA) Roberto Chiacig Luca Garri Denis Marconato Giacomo Galanda Nikola Radulović Alex Righetti Matteo Soragna Gianluca Basile Massimo Bulleri Gianmarco Pozzecco Michele Mian Rodolfo Rombaldoni	United States (USA) Allen Iverson Stephon Marbury Dwyane Wade Carlos Boozer Carmelo Anthony LeBron James Emeka Okafor Shawn Marion Amar'e Stoudemire Tim Duncan Lamar Odom Richard Jefferson
Women details	United States (USA) Shannon Johnson Dawn Staley Sue Bird Sheryl Swoopes Ruth Riley Lisa Leslie Tamika Catchings Tina Thompson Diana Taurasi Yolanda Griffith Katie Smith Swin Cash	Australia (AUS) Alicia Poto Allison Tranquilli Sandy Brondello Penny Taylor Suzy Batkovic Trisha Fallon Kristi Harrower Laura Summerton Belinda Snell Natalie Porter Rachael Sporn Lauren Jackson	Russia (RUS) Olga Arteshina Oxana Rakhmatulina Natalia Vodopyanova Diana Goustilina Yelena Baranova Tatiana Shchegoleva Ilona Korstin Maria Stepanova Maria Kalmykova Elena Karpova Irina Osipova Anna Arkhipova

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter just one men's team with 12 players, and just one women's team with 12 players in the regional tournaments. The reigning world champions and the host country qualify automatically, as do the winners of the five continental championships, plus the runner-up and third place teams from the Americas and Europe competitions, and the runner-up Oceania in the men's tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up and third place teams from Asia and Europe, and the runner-up from Oceania.

Basketball – Men

Main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Angola	United States Argentina Puerto Rico	China	Lithuania Spain Italy	Australia New Zealand	Serbia and Montenegro – World champions Greece – Olympic hosts

Basketball – Women

Main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Nigeria	Brazil	China Japan South Korea	Russia Czech Republic Spain	Australia New Zealand	United States – World champions Greece – Olympic hosts

Format

Twelve teams are split into two preliminary round groups of six teams each.
The top four teams from both groups qualify for the knockout stage.
Fifth-placed teams from both groups compete for 9th place in an additional match.
Sixth-placed teams from both groups compete for 11th place in an additional match.
In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
- From the eliminated teams at the quarterfinals, the loser from A1 vs. B4 competes against the loser from B1 vs. A4 for 7th place in an additional match. The remaining two loser teams compete for 5th place in an additional match.
The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A1/B4 vs. A3/B2 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1.
The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.

Tie-breaking criteria:

Head to head results
Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams
Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group

Teams

Men

The men's event involved twelve teams split equally into two groups.

Group A:

Group B:

Women

The women's event involved 12 teams split in two groups.

Group A:

Australia (AUS)
Brazil (BRA)
Greece (GRE)
Japan (JPN)
Nigeria (NGR)
Russia (RUS)

Group B:

China (CHN)
Czech Republic (CZE)
New Zealand (NZL)
South Korea (KOR)
Spain (ESP)
United States (USA)

Men's tournament

Main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Preliminary round

The four best teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	5	5	0	405	349	+56	10	Quarterfinals
2	Italy	5	3	2	371	341	+30	8
3	Argentina	5	3	2	414	396	+18	8
4	China	5	2	3	303	382	−79	7
5	New Zealand	5	1	4	399	413	−14	6	9th place playoff
6	Serbia and Montenegro	5	1	4	377	388	−11	6	11th place playoff

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
Notes:

^ Head-to-head record: Italy 1–0 Argentina
^ Head-to-head record: New Zealand 1–0 Serbia and Montenegro

August 15
11:15

Italy

71–69

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lithuania	5	5	0	468	414	+54	10	Quarterfinals
2	Greece	5	3	2	389	343	+46	8
3	Puerto Rico	5	3	2	410	411	−1	8
4	United States	5	3	2	418	389	+29	8
5	Australia	5	1	4	383	411	−28	6	9th place playoff
6	Angola	5	0	5	321	421	−100	5	11th place playoff

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	5	5	0	418	313	+105	10	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	5	4	1	389	333	+56	9
3	Brazil	5	3	2	430	361	+69	8
4	Greece (H)	5	2	3	353	392	−39	7
5	Japan	5	1	4	381	485	−104	6
6	Nigeria	5	0	5	335	422	−87	5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	5	5	0	430	285	+145	10	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	5	4	1	368	334	+34	9
3	Czech Republic	5	3	2	408	375	+33	8
4	New Zealand	5	2	3	321	414	−93	7
5	China	5	1	4	360	406	−46	6
6	South Korea	5	0	5	320	393	−73	5

Rank	Men				Women
Rank	Team	Pld	W	L	Team	Pld	W	L
	Argentina	8	6	2	United States	8	8	0
	Italy	8	5	3	Australia	8	7	1
	United States	8	5	3	Russia	8	6	2
4th	Lithuania	8	6	2	Brazil	8	4	4
Eliminated at the quarterfinals
5th	Greece	7	4	3	Czech Republic	7	4	3
6th	Puerto Rico	7	3	4	Spain	7	4	3
7th	Spain	7	6	1	Greece	7	3	4
8th	China	7	2	5	New Zealand	7	2	5
Preliminary round 5th placers
9th	Australia	6	2	4	China	6	2	4
10th	New Zealand	6	1	5	Japan	6	1	5
Preliminary round 6th placers
11th	Serbia and Montenegro	6	2	4	Nigeria	6	1	5
12th	Angola	6	0	6	South Korea	6	0	6

Medalists

Qualification

Basketball – Men

Basketball – Women

Format

Teams

Men

Women

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Classification round

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Classification round

Final standings

References

External links