Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

14th Basketball Olympic Tournament Atlanta 1996
Tournament details
Olympics	1996 Summer Olympics
Host nation	United States
City	Atlanta
Duration	July 20 – August 4
Men's teams	12
Men's medals:
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists	Lithuania
Women's teams	12
Women's medals:
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Brazil
Bronze medalists	Australia

Basketball contests at the 1996 Olympic Games were held from July 20, 1996 to August 4, 1996. Games took place at the Morehouse College Gymnasium and the Georgia Dome. For the second straight Olympic games, the American men's team composed almost entirely of NBA players won the gold medal. This was also the last Olympics before the inception of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the United States and the only Summer Olympics to take place in a city with an NBA team since the league started allowing its players to compete in the games, as Atlanta is home to the Hawks.

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's	United States (USA) Charles Barkley Penny Hardaway Grant Hill Hakeem Olajuwon Karl Malone Reggie Miller Shaquille O'Neal Gary Payton Scottie Pippen Mitch Richmond David Robinson John Stockton	Yugoslavia (YUG) Dejan Tomašević Miroslav Berić Dejan Bodiroga Željko Rebrača Predrag Danilović Vlade Divac Aleksandar Đorđević Saša Obradović Žarko Paspalj Zoran Savić Nikola Lončar Milenko Topić	Lithuania (LTU) Arvydas Sabonis Rimas Kurtinaitis Darius Lukminas Saulius Štombergas Eurelijus Žukauskas Šarūnas Marčiulionis Mindaugas Žukauskas Gintaras Einikis Andrius Jurkūnas Artūras Karnišovas Rytis Vaišvila Tomas Pačėsas
Women's	United States (USA) Teresa Edwards Dawn Staley Ruthie Bolton Sheryl Swoopes Jennifer Azzi Lisa Leslie Carla McGhee Katy Steding Katrina Felicia McClain Rebecca Lobo Venus Lacy Nikki McCray	Brazil (BRA) Hortência Marcari Oliva Maria Angelica Adriana Aparecida Santos Leila Sobral Maria Paula Silva Janeth Arcain Roseli Gustavo Marta Sobral Silvinha Alessandra Oliveira Cintia Santos Claudia Maria Pastor	Australia (AUS) Robyn Maher Allison Cook Sandy Brondello Michele Timms Shelley Sandie Trisha Fallon Michelle Chandler Fiona Robinson Carla Boyd Jenny Whittle Rachael Sporn Michelle Brogan

With U.S.A. winning the gold medal, Scottie Pippen would become the first (and to this date, the only) person to win NBA championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, having played for Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals.^[1] He had played for the Bulls in 1992 and later that year, for the "Dream Team" at the Barcelona Olympics.

Qualification

An NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. 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 from the Americas, the runner-up from Asia and the second through fourth places from the Europe tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up from the Americas, in addition to the second and third places from Asia and Europe.

Men

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Angola	Puerto Rico Argentina Brazil	China Korea	Yugoslavia Lithuania Croatia Greece	Australia	United States – World champions and Olympic hosts

Women

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Zaire	Canada Cuba	China Korea Japan	Ukraine Italy Russia	Australia	Brazil – World champions United States – 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 and sixth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 9th–12th places in the final ranking.
In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
- The four eliminated from the quarterfinals form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
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:

Angola (ANG)
Argentina (ARG)
China (CHN)
Croatia (CRO)
Lithuania (LTU)
United States (USA)

Group B:

Australia (AUS)
Brazil (BRA)
Greece (GRE)
South Korea (KOR)
Puerto Rico (PUR)
Yugoslavia (YUG)

Women

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

Group A:

Brazil (BRA)
Canada (CAN)
China (CHN)
Italy (ITA)
Japan (JPN)
Russia (RUS)

Group B:

Australia (AUS)
Cuba (CUB)
South Korea (KOR)
Ukraine (UKR)
United States (USA)
Zaire (ZAI)

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

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

Group A

	Qualified for the quarterfinals

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
United States	5	0	522	345	+177	10
Lithuania	3	2	427	354	+73	8	1W–0L
Croatia	3	2	422	386	+36	8	0W–1L
China	2	3	360	502	–142	7	1W–0L
Argentina	2	3	351	396	–45	7	0W–1L
Angola	0	5	280	379	–99	5

July 20

China

70–67

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Yugoslavia	5	0	478	364	+114	10
Australia	4	1	492	438	+54	9
Greece	3	2	402	416	–14	8
Brazil	2	3	498	494	+4	7
Puerto Rico	1	4	447	465	–18	6
Korea	0	5	422	562	–140	5

July 30			9th place (August 3)

B6	Korea	79
A5	Argentina	97
			A5	Argentina	87
			B5	Puerto Rico	77
A6	Angola	67
B5	Puerto Rico	76	11th place (August 3)
			B6	Korea	61
			A6	Angola	99

August 1			5th place (August 3)

A4	China	75
B3	Greece	115
			B4	Brazil	72
			B3	Greece	91
B4	Brazil	78
A3	Croatia	70	7th place (August 3)
			A3	Croatia	99
			A4	China	85

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Brazil	5	0	424	360	+64	10
Russia	4	1	378	342	+36	9
Italy	3	2	330	309	+21	8
Japan	2	3	365	396	–31	7
China	1	4	347	378	–31	6
Canada	0	5	293	352	–59	5

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
United States	5	0	424	360	+64	10
Ukraine	3	2	378	342	+36	8	1W–0L
Australia	3	2	330	309	+21	8	0W–1L
Cuba	2	3	365	396	–31	7	1W–0L
Korea	2	3	347	378	–31	7	0W–1L
Zaire	0	5	293	352	–59	5

July 31			9th place (August 3)

B6	Zaire	67
A5	China	91
			A5	China	85
			B5	Korea	71
A6	Canada	79
B5	Korea	88	11th place (August 3)
			B6	Zaire	46
			A6	Canada	88

Rank	Men				Women
Rank	Team	Pld	W	L	Team	Pld	W	L
1 !	United States	8	8	0	United States	8	8	0
2 !	Yugoslavia	8	7	1	Brazil	8	7	1
3 !	Lithuania	8	5	3	Australia	8	5	3
4th	Australia	8	5	3	Ukraine	8	4	4
Eliminated at the quarterfinals
5th	Greece	8	5	3	Russia	8	6	2
6th	Brazil	8	3	5	Cuba	8	3	5
7th	Croatia	8	4	4	Japan	8	3	5
8th	China	8	2	6	Italy	8	3	5
Preliminary round 5th placers
9th	Argentina	7	4	3	China	7	3	4
10th	Puerto Rico	7	2	5	Korea	7	3	4
Preliminary round 6th placers
11th	Angola	7	1	6	Canada	7	1	6
12th	Korea	7	0	7	Zaire	7	0	7

Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Contents

Medalists

Qualification

Men

Women

Format

Teams

Men

Women

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

Classification brackets

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

Classification brackets

Final Standings

References