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.

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.

The United States men's team, which was nicknamed "The Dream Team", won the gold medal in the men's tournament by beating Croatia in the final, with Lithuania winning the bronze medal. A documentary film, The Other Dream Team, covered the progress of the Lithuanian team.

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.

The men's top scorer was Oscar Schmidt with 198 points in 8 games, with an average of 24.7 points, and Drazen Petrovic was second with 187 points in 7 games, with an average of 26.7 points.

Medal summary

Men's Christian LaettnerDavid RobinsonPatrick Ewing Larry Bird Scottie Pippen Michael Jordan Clyde Drexler Karl Malone John Stockton Chris Mullin Charles Barkley Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr. Dražen PetrovićVelimir PerasovićDanko CvjetičaninToni KukočVladan AlanovićFranjo ArapovićŽan TabakStojko VrankovićAlan GregovArijan KomazecDino RađaAramis Naglić Valdemaras ChomičiusAlvydas PazdrazdisArūnas VisockasDarius DimavičiusRomanas BrazdauskisGintaras KrapikasRimas KurtinaitisArvydas SabonisArtūras KarnišovasŠarūnas MarčiulionisGintaras EinikisSergejus Jovaiša Women's Yelena ZhirkoYelena BaranovaIrina GuerlitsYelena TornikiduYelena ShvaybovichMarina TkachenkoIrina MinkhYelena KhudashovaIrina SoumnikovaElen BounatiantsNatalia ZasulskayaSvetlana Zaboluyeva Cong XuediHe JunLi DongmeiLi XinLiu JunLiu QingPeng PingWang FangZhan ShupingZheng DongmeiZheng HaixiaZheng Xiulin Teresa EdwardsDaedra CharlesClarissa DavisTeresa WeatherspoonTammy JacksonVickie OrrVictoria BullettCarolyn JonesKatrina Felicia McClainMedina DixonCynthia CooperSuzanne 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.1992 European Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men, FIBA Archive. Accessed 31 March 2012. For the women's tournament, the host team qualified automatically, as did the top three teams from the 1990 FIBA World Championship. A qualifying tournament was held to allocate four extra berths. Yugoslavia was replaced by Italy (the fifth place team from the qualifying tournament) after it was excluded from the Olympic tournament.

Men

Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Automatic qualifiers – Olympic hosts

Women

Americas Asia Europe Automatic qualifiers – Olympic hosts

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: 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.

Group A Qualified for the quarterfinals TeamWLPFPAPDPtsTie 5 0 579 350 +229 10 4 1 423 400 +23 9 2 3 420 463 −43 7 1–0 2 3 369 432 −63 7 0–1 1 4 324 392 −68 6 1–0 1 4 398 476 −78 6 0–1 DAY 1

USA 116-48 Angola

Croatia 96-73 Brazil

Germany 83-74 Spain

Day 2

USA 103-70 Croatia

Spain 101-100 Brazil

Germany 64-63 Angola

Day 3

USA 111-68 Germany

Croatia 88-79 Spain

Angola 66-76 Brazil

Day 4

USA 127-83 Brazil

Croatia 98-74 Germany

Spain 63-83 Angola

Day 5

USA 122-81 Spain

Croatia 73-64 Angola

Germany 76-85 Brazil

Group B Qualified for the quarterfinals TeamWLPFPAPDPtsTie 4 1 425 373 +52 9 1–0 4 1 481 424 +57 9 0–1 3 2 432 396 +36 8 1–0 3 2 445 440 +15 8 0–1 1 4 392 427 −35 6 0 5 381 496 −115 5 Day 1

CIS 78-64 Venezuela

Lithuania 112-75 China

Puerto Rico 76-116 Australia

Day 2

CIS 85-63 Australia

Puerto Rico 100-68 China

Venezuela 79-87 Lithuania

Day 3

CIS 100-84 China

Australia 78-71 Venezuela

Lithuania 104-91 Puerto Rico.

Day 4

CIS 92-80 Lithuania

Australia 88-66 China

Puerto Rico 96-82 Venezuela

Day 5

CIS 70-82 Puerto Rico

Venezuela 96-88 China

Lithuania 98-87 Australia

Knockout stage

Statistical leaders StatisticNameTotalPer game/Pct.Points Oscar Schmidt19824.8Rebounds Arvydas Sabonis10012.5Assists Šarūnas Marčiulionis668.2Steals Michael Jordan334.1 Igors MiglinieksBlocks Arvydas Sabonis222.83-point field goals Oscar Schmidt28.378Free throws Šarūnas Marčiulionis75.765

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 TeamWLPFPAPDPts 3 0 246 229 +17 6 2 1 242 222 +20 5 1 2 236 241 −5 4 0 3 190 222 −32 3 Day 1

Cuba 91-89 CIS

Brazil 85-70 Italy

Day 2

CIS 77-67 Italy

Cuba 95-87 Brazil

Day 3

CIS 76-64 Brazil

Cuba 60-53 Italy

Group B Qualified for the semifinals TeamWLPFPAPDPts 3 0 318 174 +144 6 2 1 199 226 −27 5 1 2 180 238 −58 4 0 3 183 242 −59 3 Day 1

USA 111-55 Czechoslovakia

China 66-63 Spain

Day 2

Spain 59-58 Czechoslovakia

USA 93-61 China

Day 3

China 72-70 Czechoslovakia

USA 114-58 Spain

Knockout stage

Statistical leaders StatisticNameTotalPer game/Pct.Points Hortência Marcari9418.8Rebounds Katrina McClain489.6Assists Teresa Edwards274.5Steals Iveta Bieliková275.4Blocks Elisabeth Cebrián91.83-point field goals Cong Xuedi15.577Free throws Natalya Zasulskaya27.659

Final standings Rank Men WomenTeam W L Team W L 8 0 4 1 6 2 3 2 6 2 4 1 4th 5 3 3 2Eliminated at the quarterfinalsEliminated at the preliminary round 5th 4 4 3 2 6th 4 4 1 4 7th 3 5 2 3 8th 3 5 0 5Eliminated at the preliminary round 9th 3 4 10th 2 5 11th 2 5 12th 0 7

See also "The Dream Team"

References

External links Official Olympic Report