Home > Events > Olympics > Summer > Sports > Basketball

Basketball was admitted as an Olympic sport for the first time in 1936 in Berlin, and has been on the program ever since. A women's basketball tournament was added in 1976. For the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a 3x3 basketball event for men and women was added to the program.

Basketball at the Paris Olympics 2024

There will be a men's and women's 5x5 basketball tournament, and men's and women's 3x3 basketball tournament, for a total of four basketball gold medals available.

The 5x5 basketball matches will be played at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, with the final phase held at the Accor Arena (Paris-Bercy) in Paris. The 3x3 matches will be played at the Place de la Concorde, a large public square in Paris

Trivia

• Basketball was also a demonstration event in St Lois 1904.
• In 1936, the first-ever basketball final was played on a dirt court in the rain, which made dribbling impossible. The United States team beat Canada 19 to 8.
• The medals for the 1936 Olympic Games basketball tournament were awarded by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. 
• In 1972, the U.S. basketball team lost a game for the first time, defeated by the Soviet Union. However, the US team refused to accept the silver medal, claiming that the clock had been improperly restarted in the final moments.
• In 1988, the last American Olympic basketball team to play without NBA players won the bronze medal.

• In 1992, with the door open to professional athletes, the U.S. sent a 'Dream Team' including Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Karl Malone. As expected, they went undefeated throughout the tournament.
• The best all-time performing basketball players at the Olympic Games are US female players Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi who have won five gold medals between 2004 and 2020. See more on the Greatest Basketball Players at the Olympics.
• In London 2012, Australian basketballer Liz Cambage became the first woman in Olympic history to dunk the basketball when she slammed one over the top of her Russian opponents during the Opals 70-66 win over Russia.
• America's men's basketball team scored an Olympic record 156 points when they beat Nigeria at London 2012, surpassing the previous Olympic record of 138 scored by Brazil against Egypt at Seoul 1988.
• A record 121 NBA and WNBA players were featured on national team rosters for the 2020 Tokyo Games, compared to the previous record of 72 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
• South Sudan, the youngest nation in the world having gained independence 12 years previously, secured a historic place at the Paris 2024 Olympics men's basketball tournament.
• The USA women's basektball team won gold for a record-breaking eighth Games in a row (and 10th overall).

---

---

Related Pages

• 3x3 basketball at the Olympic Games
• More information about the sport of Basketball.
• Basketball 1904 Olympic demonstration event
• See also information about basketball at the Commonwealth Games.
• Wheelchair Basketball at the Paralympics
• List of Olympic Sports