Basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics

9th Basketball Olympic Tournament
Montreal 1976
Tournament details
Olympics 1976 Summer Olympics
Host nation  Canada
City Montreal
Duration July 18–27
Men's teams 12
Men's medals:
Gold medalists  United States
Silver medalists  Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists  Soviet Union
Women's teams 6
Women's medals:
Gold medalists  Soviet Union
Silver medalists  United States
Bronze medalists  Bulgaria

Basketball contests at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place from July 18 to July 27 at the Centre Étienne Desmarteau and the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Canada. Women's basketball was introduced to the Olympic program for the first time at this Games. The United States won the gold against Yugoslavia in the men's tournament, while the Soviet Union won the gold medal against the United States in the women's competition.

Contents

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's  United States (USA)
Phil Ford
Steve Sheppard
Adrian Dantley
Walter Davis
Quinn Buckner
Ernie Grunfeld
Kenneth Carr
Scott May
Tate Armstrong
Tom LaGarde
Philip Hubbard
Mitch Kupchak
 Yugoslavia (YUG)
Blagoja Georgievski
Dragan Kićanović
Vinko Jelovac
Rajko Žižić
Željko Jerkov
Andro Knego
Zoran Slavnić
Krešimir Ćosić
Damir Šolman
Žarko Varajić
Dražen Dalipagić
Mirza Delibašić
 Soviet Union (URS)
Vladimir Arzamaskov
Aleksandr Salnikov
Valery Miloserdov
Alzhan Zharmukhamedov
Andrei Makeev
Ivan Edeshko
Sergei Belov
Vladimir Tkachenko
Anatoly Myshkin
Mikhail Korkiya
Aleksandr Belov
Vladimir Zhigily
Women's  Soviet Union (URS)
Angelė Rupšienė
Tatiana Zakharova-Nadirova
Raisa Kurvyakova
Olga Barisheva
Tatyana Ovechkina
Nadezhda Shuvayena
Uljana Semjonova
Nadezhda Zakharova
Nelly Feriabnikova
Olga Sukharnova
Tamara Dauinene
Natalya Kilmova
 United States (USA)
Cindy Brogdon
Susan Rojcewicz
Ann Meyers
Lusia Harris
Nancy Dunkle
Charlotte Lewis
Nancy Lieberman
Gail Marquis
Patricia Roberts
Mary Anne O'Connor
Patricia Head (Pat Summit)
Juliene Brazinski Simpson
 Bulgaria (BUL)
Nadka Golcheva
Penka Metodieva
Petkana Makaveyeva
Snezhana Mihailova
Krassima Gyurova
Krassimira Bogdanova
Todorka Yordanova
Diana Dilova
Margarita Shturkelova
Mania Stoyanova
Girgina Skerlatova
Penka Stoyanova

Qualification

An NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. Automatic qualifications were granted to the host country for both events plus the three medal winners from the previous Olympic Games for the men's tournament, and the three first places at the 1975 FIBA World Championship for the women's tournament. Additional spots for the men's tournament were decided via the continental championships held by FIBA and an extra qualifying tournament held in Hamilton, Canada months prior to the contest. The remaining slots for the women's competition were also assigned via another tournament held in the same city.

Men

Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Automatic qualifiers
 Egypt[a]  Mexico
 Puerto Rico[b]
 China[a]
 Japan[c]
 Italy
 SFR Yugoslavia
 Czechoslovakia
 Australia  Soviet UnionGold medal in 1972
 United StatesSilver medal in 1972
 CubaBronze medal in 1972
 Canada – Olympic hosts

Women

Americas Europe Automatic qualifiers
 United States  Bulgaria  Soviet UnionWorld Champions
 Japan – 2nd place at the 1975 World Championship
 Czechoslovakia – 3rd place at the 1975 World Championship
 Canada – Olympic hosts

Format

Men's tournament:

Women's tournament:

Tie-breaking criteria:

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

Men's Tournament

Preliminary Round

The first two places in each of the preliminary round groups advanced to the semifinals, where Group A teams would meet Group B teams. The Soviet Union and the United States, two of the powerhouses at this tournament, finished the preliminary round undefeated. The host nation's team also qualified for the semifinals together with Yugoslavia. Egypt's team played only one match against Czechoslovakia and then left the tournament supporting the boycott of several African countries, and thus forfeiting their remaining matches.

Group A

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts
 Soviet Union 5 0 548 374 +174 10
 Canada 4 1 446 416 +30 9
 Cuba 3 2 448 402 +46 8
 Australia 2 3 472 481 −9 7
 Mexico 1 4 461 511 −50 6
 Japan 0 5 364 555 −191 5
July 18 Canada  104–76  Japan    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 18 Cuba  111–89  Australia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 18 Mexico  77–120  Soviet Union    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 19 Canada  84–79  Cuba    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 19 Soviet Union  93–77  Australia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 19 Mexico  108–90  Japan    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 21 Mexico  117–120  Australia OT  Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 21 Japan  56–97  Cuba    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 21 Soviet Union  108–85  Canada    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 23 Japan  63–129  Soviet Union    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 23 Mexico  75–89  Cuba    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 23 Australia  69–81  Canada    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 24 Cuba  72–98  Soviet Union    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 24 Mexico  84–92  Canada    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 24 Australia  117–79  Japan    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal

Group B

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts
 United States 5 0 394 349 +45 10
 SFR Yugoslavia 4 1 364 343 +21 9
 Italy 3 2 349 344 +5 8
 Czechoslovakia 2 3 418 406 +12 7
 Puerto Rico 1 4 321 363 −42 6
 Egypt 0 1 64 105 −41 1
July 18 SFR Yugoslavia  84–63  Puerto Rico    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 18 Italy  86–106  United States    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 18 Egypt  64–103  Czechoslovakia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 20 Forfeited Italy  2–0  Egypt    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 20 United States  95–94  Puerto Rico    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 20 SFR Yugoslavia  99–81  Czechoslovakia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 21 Forfeited Puerto Rico  2–0  Egypt    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 21 Czechoslovakia  69–79  Italy    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 21 SFR Yugoslavia  93–112  United States    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 22 Czechoslovakia  89–93  Puerto Rico    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 22 SFR Yugoslavia  88–87  Italy    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 22 Forfeited United States  2–0  Egypt    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 24 United States  81–76  Czechoslovakia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 24 Forfeited SFR Yugoslavia  2–0  Egypt    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 24 Italy  95–81  Puerto Rico    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

  Semifinals (July 26)     Gold medal (July 27)
                 
  A1   Soviet Union 84  
  B2   SFR Yugoslavia 89    
      B2   SFR Yugoslavia 74
      B1   United States 95
  B1   United States 95    
  A2   Canada 77   Bronze medal (July 27)
A1   Soviet Union 100
  B2   Canada 72

Classification brackets

5th−8th Place

  Semifinals (July 25)     5th place (July 27)
                 
  A3   Cuba 76  
  B4   Czechoslovakia 91    
      B4   Czechoslovakia 75
      B3   Italy 98
  B3   Italy 79    
  A4   Australia 72   7th place (July 27)
A3   Cuba 92
  A4   Australia 81

9th−12th Place

  Semifinals (July 25)     9th place (July 27)
                 
  A5   Mexico 2  
  B6   Egypt 0[d]    
      A5   Mexico 84
      B5   Puerto Rico 89
  B5   Puerto Rico 111    
  A6   Japan 91   11th place (July 27)
B6   Egypt 0[d]
  A6   Japan 2

d Forfeited match.

Women's Tournament

The first Olympic Basketball Tournament for Women consisted of a single round-robin group, where final standings where determined by the group rankings. The Soviet Union finished undefeated and took the gold, while the United States earned the silver medal thanks to a victory over Bulgaria that broke the tie between the two teams in favor of the former.

Team W L PF PA PD Pts 1st Tie
 Soviet Union 5 0 504 346 +158 10
 United States 3 2 415 417 −2 8 1W–0L
 Bulgaria 3 2 365 377 −12 8 0W–1L
 Czechoslovakia 2 3 351 359 −8 7 1W–0L
 Japan 2 3 405 400 +5 7 0W–1L
 Canada 0 5 336 477 −141 5
July 19 United States  71–84  Japan    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 19 Soviet Union  115–51  Canada    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 19 Czechoslovakia  66–67  Bulgaria    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 20 Japan  121–89  Canada    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 20 United States  95–79  Bulgaria    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 20 Czechoslovakia  75–88  Soviet Union    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 22 Bulgaria  68–91  Soviet Union    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 22 Japan  62–76  Czechoslovakia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 22 United States  89–75  Canada    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 23 Bulgaria  66–63  Japan    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 23 Canada  59–67  Czechoslovakia    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 23 United States  77–112  Soviet Union    Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal
July 25 Canada  62–85  Bulgaria    Montreal Forum, Montreal
July 26 United States  83–67  Czechoslovakia    Montreal Forum, Montreal
July 26 Soviet Union  98–75  Japan    Montreal Forum, Montreal

Final Standings

Rank Men Women
Team Pld W L Team Pld W L
 United States 7 7 0  Soviet Union 5 5 0
 SFR Yugoslavia 7 5 2  United States 5 3 2
 Soviet Union 7 6 1  Bulgaria 5 3 2
4th  Canada 7 4 3  Czechoslovakia 5 2 3
5th  Italy 7 5 2  Japan 5 2 3
6th  Czechoslovakia 7 3 4  Canada 5 0 5
7th  Cuba 7 4 3
8th  Australia 7 2 5
9th  Puerto Rico 7 3 4
10th  Mexico 7 2 5
11th  Japan 7 1 6
12th  Egypt 1 0 1

References