Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics was the second appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. A total number of 23 nations entered the competition.

Olympic basketball returned to indoor competition in Harringay Arena, after the disastrous weather conditions of the final game in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Format In the preliminary rounds, teams were divided into 3 groups of 6 squads and a group with 5 squads. The preliminary round was played in a single round-robin format The Group tournament ranking system was observed as follows: Team ResultPoint EquivalentGame Win2Game loss via ordinary circumstances1Game loss via default0 Ties were broken by the ratio of points scored to points allowed. After the preliminaries, the top 2 teams in each group will advance to the final round. The 4 remaining teams went to their respective classification playoffs.

Medalists Cliff BarkerDon BarksdaleRalph BeardLew BeckVince BorylaGordon CarpenterAlex GrozaWah Wah JonesBob KurlandRay LumppR. C. PittsJesse RenickJackie RobinsonKenny Rollins André BarraisMichel BonnevieAndré BuffièreRené ChocatRené DérencyMaurice DesaymonnetAndré EvenMaurice GirardotFernand GuillouRaymond OffnerJacques PerrierYvan QuéninLucien RebufficPierre Thiolon Zeny de AzevedoJoão Francisco BrázRuy de FreitasMarcus Vinícius DiasAffonso ÉvoraAlexandre GemignaniAlfredo da MottaAlberto MarsonNilton PachecoMassinet Sorcinelli

Participating teams Defending Olympic Champion Olympic Runner-up Third placers Host nation

AmericasEuropeAsiaAfrica—

Qualification berths for the Tournament +Allocation of BerthsContinental Zones Automatic Qualifier Additional berths from the previous GamesTotalHost Nation 1 1Defending Olympic Champions 1 1Americas Region 5 3 8Asian Region 5 5European Region 7 7Africa Region 1 1Total 20 3 23

Group stage Group A

Uruguay def. Great Britain, 69–17 Brazil def. Hungary, 45–41 Canada def. Italy, 55–37 Brazil def. Uruguay, 36–32 Canada def. Great Britain, 44–24 Hungary def. Italy, 32–19 Brazil def. Great Britain, 76–11 Hungary def. Canada, 37–36 Uruguay def. Italy, 46–34 Italy def. Great Britain, 49–28 Uruguay def. Hungary, 49–31 Brazil def. Canada, 57–35 Hungary def. Great Britain, 60–23 Brazil def. Italy, 47–31 Canada def. Uruguay, 52–50

Group B

Philippines def. Iraq, 102–30 Korea def. Belgium, 29–27 Chile def. China, 44–39 Chile def. Iraq, 100–18 Philippines def. Korea, 35–33 China def. Belgium, 36–34 Chile def. Philippines, 68–39 Belgium def. Iraq, 98–20 China def. Korea, 49–48 Belgium def. Chile, 38–36 Korea def. Iraq, 120–20 Philippines def. China, 51–32 Belgium def. Philippines, 35–34 China def. Iraq, 125–25 Korea def. Chile, 28–21

Group C

United States def. Switzerland, 86–21 Czechoslovakia def. Peru, 38–30 Argentina def. Egypt, 57–38 Peru def. Egypt, 52–27 Argentina def. Switzerland, 49–23 United States def. Czechoslovakia, 53–28 Peru def. Switzerland, 49–19 United States def. Argentina, 59–57 Czechoslovakia def. Egypt, 52–38 United States def. Egypt, 66–28 Czechoslovakia def. Switzerland, 54–28 Argentina def. Peru, 42–34 Egypt def. Switzerland, 31–29 United States def. Peru, 61–33 Czechoslovakia def. Argentina, 45–41

Group D

France def. Iran, 62–30 Mexico def. Cuba, 39–31 Mexico def. Ireland, 71–9 France def. Cuba, 37–31 Mexico def. France, 56–42 Iran def. Ireland, 49–22 Mexico def. Iran, 68–27 Cuba def. Ireland, 88–25 Cuba def. Iran, 63–30 France def. Ireland, 73–14

Classification rounds 17th–23rd place classification rounds A bye was given to Egypt as total number of teams is not a multiple of 2, which gave them bye to the classification semifinals. Also, Ireland was deemed to have finished last, due to the loss to Switzerland and a bye they earned from Iraq.

Classification Quarterfinals

21st–23rd place semifinal

17th–20th place semifinals

9th-16th place classification playoffs Hungary forfeited all of their matches in the classification round, and a win were awarded to their respective opponents, which are marked by asterisks.

Classification quarterfinals

13th–16th place semifinals

9th–12th place semifinals

Final round

Quarterfinals

5th–8th place semifinals

Semifinals

Final classification matches 21st place match

19th place match

17th place match

15th place match

13th place match

11th place match

9th place match

7th place match

5th place match

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Awards 1948 Olympic Basketball Champions United States Second title

Participating nations For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads.

Each country was allowed to enter one team of up to 14 players and they all were eligible for participation (with a maximum of five on the court at any given moment). A total of 298(*) basketball players from 23 nations competed at the London Games:

(**)

(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least, according to the official report, because the rosters for the matches are unknown. It is also unknown up to now, if there were more reserve players.

(*) and (**) It is uncertain if P. Benedek and J. Verbenyi played for Hungary in this tournament. The official report shows them, but Hungarian sources did not, however they are counted.

Summary Place Nation 1 Head Coach: Omar Browning (Phillips 66ers (Bartlesville, OK))Cliff Barker (Kentucky)Don Barksdale (Oakland Bittners/UCLA)Ralph Beard (Kentucky)Lew Beck (Phillips 66ers/Oregon State)Vince Boryla (Denver Nuggets/Denver)Gordon Carpenter (Phillips 66ers/Arkansas)Alex Groza (Kentucky)Wah Wah Jones (Kentucky)Bob Kurland (Phillips 66ers/Oklahoma St.)Ray Lumpp (NYU)R. C. Pitts (Phillips 66ers/Arkansas)Jesse Renick (Phillips 66ers/Oklahoma St.)Jackie Robinson (Baylor)Kenny Rollins (Kentucky) 2 3 Head Coach: Moacir Daiuto 4 Angel Acuña LizañaIssac Alfaro LozaAlberto Bienvenu BarajasJorge Cardiel GaytánJosé de la Cruz Cabrera GándaraRodolfo Díaz MercadoFrancisco Galindo ChávezJorge Gudiño GoyaHéctor Guerrero DelgadoEmilio López EnríquezFernando Rojas HerreraJosé Rojas HereraIgnacio Romo PorchasJosué Santos de León Neri 5 Martín Acosta y LaraNéstor F. Anton GiudiceVictorio CieslinskasNelson DemarcoMiguel Carlos Diab FigoliAbraham Eidlin GrossmanEduardo A. Folle ColomboHéctor GarcíaEduardo M. Gordon MorganAdesio LombardoRoberto LoveraGustavo Magariños Morales de los RíosCarlos RosellóHéctor Ruiz 6 Eduardo Cordero FernándezEzequiel Figueroa ReyesJuan José Gallo ChinchillaRoberto Hammer CasadioEduardo Kapstein SuckelManuel Ledesma BarralesVíctor Mahana BadrieLuis Enrique Marmentini GilAndrés Mitrovic GuicAntonio Moreno RodilloEduardo Parra RojasHermán Raffo AbarcaMarcos Sánchez CarmonaGuillermo Verdugo Yañez 7 Head Coach: Josef FleischlingerKarel BělohradskýCyril BenáčekJiří ChlupJiří DrvotaJosef EzrJozef KalinaJan KozákVáclav KrásaZoltán KrenickýJozef KřepelaIvan MrázekJiří SiegelJosef TomsLadislav Trpkoš 8 Ahn Byung-SukBang Won-SunChang Chin-RiChyo Joon-DeukKang Hyun-BongKim Shin-ChungLee Hoon-SangLee Yung-ChoonOh Chul-Soo 9 Head Coach: Bob Osborne (University of British Columbia))Ole Bakken (University of British Columbia)Bill Bell (University of British Columbia)Doodie Bloomfield (Montréal YMHA)Dave Campbell (University of British Columbia)Harry Kermode (University of British Columbia)Bennie Lands (Montréal YMHA)Pat McGeer (University of British Columbia)Reid Mitchell (University of British Columbia)Mendy Morein (Montréal YMHA)Nev Munro (University of British Columbia)Bobby Scarr (University of British Columbia)Cy Strulovitch (Montréal YMHA)Sol Tolchinsky (Montréal YMHA)Murray Waxman (Montréal YMHA) 10 G. Ahrens ValdiviaCarlos Alegre BenavidesDavid Descalzo ÁlvarezVirgilio Drago BurgaAlberto Fernández CalderónArturo Ferreyros PérezEduardo Fiestas ArceRodolfo Salas CrespoLuis Sánchez MaquiaveloR. Ríos SoraccoJosé Vizcarra Nieto 11 Georges BaertAuguste BernaerHenri CoosemansFrançois de PauwHenri HermansAndré HollandersHenri HollandersEmile KetsLéon LampoJulien MeurisGustave PoppeRené SteurbautLuois van de GoorArmand van Wambeke 12 Head Coach: Dionisio CalvoManuel AranetaRamón CamposEduardo DecenaAndrés de la CruzFelicisimo FajardoGabriel FajardoEdgardo FulgencioAntonio Luis MartínezLauro MumarFrancisco Vestil 13 Mario Aguero MedranoJosé Miguel Alvarez PozoCasimiro García ArtimeJuan García GarcíaR. Carlos García OrdoñezFrancisco Lavernia HernándezJosé Llanusa GobelMiguel Llaneras RodríguezFederico López GarvisoPedro Manuel Otero VázquezMario Quintero PadrónFabio Ruiz VinajerasRamón Wiltz BuceloOtazo A. Paget 14 Head Coach: Kazem RahbariKazem AshtariAsghar EhsasiFereidoun EsfandiariHossein HashemiHossein JabbarzadeganHossein KarandishFarhang MohtadiHoushang RafatjahFereydoon SadeghiZiaoddin ShadmanAbolfazl SolbiHossein SorouriHossein Saoudipour 15 Head Coach: Jorge Hugo CanavesiRaúl CalvoLeopoldo ContarbioÓscar FurlongRicardo GonzálezManuel GuerreroRafael LledóLeón MartinettiRubén MeniniJorge NuréOscar Pérez CattánoArturo RuffaJuan Carlos UderBruno VaraniTomás Vío 16 Antal BánkutiP. BenedekJános HalászGéza KardosJózsef KozmaIstván LovricsTibor MezőfiGyörgy NagyLászló NovakovszkyAttila Timár GengIstván Timár GengEde VadásziJ. VerbenyiTibor Zsíros 17 Gianfranco BersaniCarlo CerioniSergio FerrianiEzio MantelliFederico MariettiGiancarlo MarinelliGiovanni NestiValentino PellariniGiancarlo PrimoRenzo RanuzziLuigi RapiniRomeo RomanuttiSergio StefaniniVittorio Tracuzzi 18 Chia Chung-ChangChua Bon-HuaKya Is-KyunLee EdwardLee Tsun-TungPao John Sung-YuanWee Tian-SiakWoo Cheng-ChangYee JoseYu Sai-Chang 19 Youssef Mohamed AbbasYoussef Abou OufFouad Abdel Meguid Abu el KheirArmand Philippe CatafagoMahmoud Gamal el LeissyAlbert Fahmy TadrosMohamed HabibAbdelrahman Ismail HafezRobert MakzoumeHassan MoawadMedhat Youssef MohamadHussein Kamal MontassirAhmed NessimMohamed Soliman 20 Frank ColeTrevor C. DaviesAlexander ElkMalcolm FinlayColin L. HuntDouglas C. LeggRonald H. LeggStanley McMeekanSydney McMeekanRobert H. NorrisLionel PriceHarry L. WestonStanley B. Weston 21 Pierre AlbrechtHenri BaumannMarc BossyClaude ChevalleyMaurice CholletBernard DutoitRobert GeiserHans GujerClaude LandiniJean PareG. PiagetJean PolletGeorges StocklyJ. Tribolet 22 Hashim Awni Kanaan Kadir Irfan Ali Salman Salih Faraj George Hanna Hamid Ahmed Wadud Khalil Mahdi Salman Yonan Emile 23 Harry BolandVincie CrehanJohn FlynnWilliam JacksonThomas KeenanJames R. McGeeGerald McLoughlinThomas MaloneFrank B. O'ConnorDonald O'DonovanDaniel ReddinDonald SheriffPatrick SheriffChristy WalshLiam Doherty

References

External links Official Olympic Report