Basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics was the eleventh appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at The Forum in Inglewood, California, United States from July 29 to August 10. The United States won the gold medal in both events, the men’s team’s 9th victory and the women's team’s 1st win marking their first gold medal. Due to the boycott, the Soviet Union and Hungary withdrew from the tournament. The former, having already qualified for both events, was replaced by West Germany in the men's competition, while both nations' women's teams were replaced by Australia and South Korea.
Medal summary Men's Steve Alford Leon Wood Patrick Ewing Vernon Fleming Alvin Robertson Michael Jordan Joe Kleine Jon Koncak Wayman Tisdale Chris Mullin Sam Perkins Jeff Turner José Manuel Beirán José Luis Llorente Fernando Arcega Josep Maria Margall Andrés Jiménez Fernando Romay Fernando Martín Juan Antonio Corbalán Ignacio Solozábal Juan Domingo de la Cruz Juan Manuel López Iturriaga Juan Antonio San Epifanio, "Epi" Dražen Petrović Aleksandar Petrović Rajko Žižić Andro Knego Nebojša Zorkić Ivan Sunara Sabit Hadžić Dražen Dalipagić Emir Mutapčić Ratko Radovanović Mihovil Nakić Branko VukićevićWomen's Teresa EdwardsLea HenryLynette WoodardAnne DonovanCathy BoswellCheryl MillerJanice LawrenceCindy NobleKim MulkeyDenise CurryPam McGeeCarol Menken-Schaudt Choi Aei-youngKim Eun-sookLee Hyung-sookChoi Kyung-heeLee Mi-jaMoon Kyung-jaKim Hwa-soonJeong Myung-heeKim Young-heeSung Jung-aPark Chan-sookPark Yang-gae Chen YuefangLi XiaoqinBa YanSong XiaoboQiu ChenWang JunXiu LijuanZheng HaixiaCong XuediZhang HuiLiu QingZhang Yueqin
Qualification A 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 gold and silver medal winners from the previous Olympic Games in the men's tournament, and the champion at the 1983 FIBA World Championship in the women's tournament. Additional spots for the men's tournament were decided via the continental championships held by FIBA, while additional spots for the women's competition were assigned to the top six teams in a tournament held in Havana, Cuba.
Men Means of qualification Date Venue Berths Qualified Host nation 18 May 1978 Athens 1 1980 Summer Olympics 20–30 July 1980 Moscow 2 1983 FIBA Oceania Championship 30 August–3 September 1983 1 1983 ABC Championship 20 – 29 November 1983 Hong Kong 1 FIBA Africa Championship 1983 19–28 December 1983 Alexandria 1 1984 Tournament of the Americas 15–24 May 1984 São Paulo 3 1984 European Qualifying Tournament 15–25 May 1984 3 Total 12
Women Means of qualification Date Venue Berths Qualified Host nation 18 May 1978 Athens 1 1983 FIBA World Championship for Women 24 July – 6 August 1983 1 0 World Qualifying Tournament 5–16 May 1984 Havana 4 5 Total 6
Withdrew from the tournament. Replaced the Soviet Union. Replaced the Soviet Union and Hungary.
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–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 teams 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. The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.
Women's tournament: One round-robin group is formed containing all six teams, where the top two compete for the gold medal, while the third and fourth places compete for the bronze medal in an additional match. The remaining two teams finish with their group rank in the final standings.
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
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. Both hosts United States and reigning Olympic Champions Yugoslavia advanced undefeated to the knockout phase. China, Egypt, Brazil, and France placed fifth and sixth in their respective groups and competed in the classification round.
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage Championship bracket
Classification brackets 5th–8th Place
9th–12th Place
Women's tournament
Preliminary round The first two places in the preliminary group compete for the gold medal, while the third and fourth places compete for the bronze. The remaining teams' group ranking determines their positions in the final standings. With the withdrawal of the Soviet Union's women's team, a new Olympic champion was to be crowned in Los Angeles. The host nation's team went through the first round undefeated and won their first gold medal against South Korea, one of the teams invited to replace the Soviet Union and Hungary. China, the other Asian representative, earned a bronze medal by defeating Canada. Yugoslavia's team couldn't repeat their bronze medal performance from the previous tournament and finished at the bottom of the rankings.
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Awards 1984 Olympic Basketball Champions United States First title
Final standings Rank Men WomenTeam Pld W L Team Pld W L 8 8 0 6 6 0 8 6 2 6 4 2 8 7 1 6 3 3 4th 8 4 4 6 2 4Eliminated at the quarterfinals 5th 8 6 2 5 1 4 6th 8 3 5 5 1 4 7th 8 4 4 8th 8 2 6 Preliminary round 5th placers 9th 7 3 4 10th 7 2 5 Preliminary round 6th placers 11th 7 1 6 12th 7 0 7
See also Basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters Basketball at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's team rosters Basketball at the Friendship Games
References Official Olympic Report USA Basketball , FIBA Archive. 1984 Olympic Games: Tournament for Women, FIBA Archive.