Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics was the thirteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It included the sport of basketball's men's and women's competitions of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The games were played at the Pavelló Olímpic de Badalona. 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams participated in the tournament.

13th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Barcelona 1992
Tournament details
Olympics1992 Summer Olympics
Host nationSpain
CityBarcelona
DurationJuly 26 – August 8
Men's tournament
Teams12
Medals
Gold medalists  United States
Silver medalists Croatia
Bronze medalists  Lithuania
Women's tournament
Teams8
Medals
Gold medalists  CIS
Silver medalists China
Bronze medalists  United States
Tournaments
 Seoul 1988  Atlanta 1996 

This was the first time that NBA players were eligible to play in Summer Olympics basketball, following a decision of FIBA in April 1989. Until 1992, only amateurs and players from professional leagues other than the NBA were allowed to play.[1]

The United States men's team, which was nicknamed "The Dream Team", won the gold medal by beating Croatia in the men's final, with Lithuania winning the bronze medal.

The Unified Team, representing the Commonwealth of Independent States, of the recently defunct Soviet Union, won the women's tournament, with China as runner-up. The United States women's team won the bronze medal after losing to the CIS in the semifinal, suffering their third and last defeat to date in the Olympic basketball history.

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's
 United States (USA)
Christian Laettner
David Robinson
Patrick Ewing
Larry Bird
Scottie Pippen
Michael Jordan
Clyde Drexler
Karl Malone
John Stockton
Chris Mullin
Charles Barkley
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr.
 Croatia (CRO)
Dražen Petrović
Velimir Perasović
Danko Cvjetičanin
Toni Kukoč
Vladan Alanović
Franjo Arapović
Žan Tabak
Stojko Vranković
Alan Gregov
Arijan Komazec
Dino Rađa
Aramis Naglić
 Lithuania (LTU)
Valdemaras Chomičius
Alvydas Pazdrazdis
Arūnas Visockas
Darius Dimavičius
Romanas Brazdauskis
Gintaras Krapikas
Rimas Kurtinaitis
Arvydas Sabonis
Artūras Karnišovas
Šarūnas Marčiulionis
Gintaras Einikis
Sergėjus Jovaiša
Women's
 Unified Team (EUN)
Yelena Zhirko
Yelena Baranova
Irina Guerlits
Yelena Tornikidu
Yelena Shvaybovich
Marina Tkachenko
Irina Minkh
Yelena Khudashova
Irina Soumnikova
Elen Bounatiants
Natalia Zasulskaya
Svetlana Zaboluyeva
 China (CHN)
Cong Xuedi
He Jun
Li Dongmei
Li Xin
Liu Jun
Liu Qing
Peng Ping
Wang Fang
Zhan Shuping
Zheng Dongmei
Zheng Haixia
 United States (USA)
Teresa Edwards
Daedra Charles
Clarissa Davis
Teresa Weatherspoon
Tammy Jackson
Vickie Orr
Victoria Bullett
Carolyn Jones
Katrina Felicia McClain
Medina Dixon
Cynthia Cooper
Suzanne McConnell

Qualification

An NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. For the men's tournament, the host country qualified automatically, as did the winners of the continental championships held for Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Americas, plus the runner-up, third and fourth place from the Americas competitions. A special qualifying tournament was held for European teams to allocate four extra berths.[2] For the women's tournament, the top four teams from the 1990 FIBA World Championship and the top four teams from a qualifying tournament held months prior to the competition were given a place in the Olympics.

Men

AfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeOceaniaAutomatic qualifiers
 Angola United States
 Venezuela
 Brazil
 Puerto Rico
 China Lithuania
 Croatia
 CIS
 Germany
 Australia Spain – Olympic hosts

Women

AmericasAsiaEuropeAutomatic qualifiers
 United States
 Cuba
 Brazil
 China Italy[a]
 CIS
 Czechoslovakia
 Spain – Olympic hosts
  • a Replaced Yugoslavia.

Format

Men's tournament:

  • Two groups of six teams are formed, where the top four from each group advance to the knockout stage.
  • Fifth and sixth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 9th through 12th places in the final ranking.
  • In the quarterfinals, the pairings are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
    • The four teams eliminated from the quarterfinals form an additional bracket to decide 5th through 8th places in the final ranking.
  • The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals.
  • The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.

Women's tournament:

  • Two groups of four teams are formed, where the top two from each group advance to the knockout stage.
  • Third and fourth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
  • The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.

Tie-breaking criteria:

  1. Head to head results

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

The top four places in each of the preliminary round groups advanced to the eight team, single-elimination knockout stage, where Group A teams would meet Group B teams. The United States' Dream Team asserted their dominance by advancing to the next round undefeated and winning their five preliminary games by an average margin of almost 46 points. The only teams representing Asia and Africa, China and Angola respectively couldn't advance and ended up competing for ninth place with Venezuela and host nation Spain.

Group A

Qualified for the quarterfinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts Tie
 United States50579350+22910
 Croatia41423400+239
 Brazil23420463−4371–0
 Germany23369432−6370–1
 Angola14324392−6861–0
 Spain14398476−7860–1

Group B

Qualified for the quarterfinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts Tie
 CIS41425373+5291–0
 Lithuania41481424+5790–1
 Australia32432396+3681–0
 Puerto Rico32445440+1580–1
 Venezuela14392427−356
 China05381496−1155

Knockout stage

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Gold medal game
                           
  A1  United States 115  
B4  Puerto Rico 77  
  A1  United States 127  
  B2  Lithuania 76  
B2  Lithuania 114
  A3  Brazil 96  
    A1  United States 117
  A2  Croatia 85
  B1  CIS 83  
A4  Germany 76  
  B1  CIS 74 Bronze medal game
  A2  Croatia 75  
A2  Croatia 98 B1  CIS 78
  B3  Australia 65   B2  Lithuania 82

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

The best two teams from each group advanced to the semifinals. The United States and Cuba advanced undefeated through the group phase but couldn't reach the finals and ended up facing each other for the bronze medal instead.

Group A

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts
 Cuba30246230+166
 CIS21244222+225
 Brazil12237241−44
 Italy03190224−343

Group B

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts
 United States30318181+1376
 China21205226−215
 Spain12181238−574
 Czechoslovakia03183242−593

Knockout stage

  Semifinals Final
                     
B1   United States  73   
A2   CIS  79   
  A2   CIS  76   
  B2   China  66   
A1   Cuba  70 
B2   China  109      Third Place Game
  B1   United States  88 
  A1   Cuba  74 

Final standings

Rank Men Women
TeamWLTeamWL
 United States80  CIS41
 Croatia62  China32
 Lithuania62  United States41
4th CIS53  Cuba32
Eliminated at the quarterfinalsEliminated at the preliminary round
5th Brazil44  Spain32
6th Australia44  Czechoslovakia14
7th Germany35  Brazil23
8th Puerto Rico35  Italy05
Eliminated at the preliminary round
9th Spain34
10th Angola25
11th Venezuela25
12th China07

See also

References

  1. Jan Hubbard. "Why Can Pros Compete in International Events?". USA Basketball. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  2. 1992 European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men, FIBA Archive. Accessed March 31, 2012.
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