Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the sixteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena, a part of the Hellinikon Olympic Complex, in Athens, for the preliminary rounds, with the later stages being held in the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex.

thumb|right|Italy and Argentina warming up before the game.

Argentina, led by NBA standouts like Manu Ginóbili and Luis Scola, won the country's first and only gold medal in the event.

In Olympic basketball tournaments, 12 teams take part. The host nation (Greece in 2004) automatically receives a berth in the tournament. By winning the two World Championship tournaments in 2002, FR Yugoslavia, now named Serbia and Montenegro, also put a team into the men's tournament and the United States a team in the women's tournament.

The remaining 10 spots in each tournament were allocated by the five Olympic zones. Each of these zones held its own tournaments to select its entries in the Olympic tournament. Africa was allocated one spot in each of these, Oceania was allocated two apiece, and Europe was allocated three. Furthermore, the Americas were allocated three teams for the men's tournament and just one in the women's tournament, whereas Asia was allocated just one in the men's tournament and three in the women's tournament.

Medalists

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| Men

Carlos Delfino

Gabriel Fernández

Manu Ginóbili

Leonardo Gutiérrez

Walter Herrmann

Alejandro Montecchia

Andrés Nocioni

Fabricio Oberto

Juan Ignacio Sánchez

Luis Scola

Hugo Sconochini

Rubén Wolkowyski

Roberto Chiacig

Luca Garri

Denis Marconato

Giacomo Galanda

Nikola Radulović

Alex Righetti

Matteo Soragna

Gianluca Basile

Massimo Bulleri

Gianmarco Pozzecco

Michele Mian

Rodolfo Rombaldoni

Allen Iverson

Stephon Marbury

Dwyane Wade

Carlos Boozer

Carmelo Anthony

LeBron James

Emeka Okafor

Shawn Marion

Amar'e Stoudemire

Tim Duncan

Lamar Odom

Richard Jefferson

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| Women

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Shannon Johnson

Dawn Staley

Sue Bird

Sheryl Swoopes

Ruth Riley

Lisa Leslie

Tamika Catchings

Tina Thompson

Diana Taurasi

Yolanda Griffith

Katie Smith

Swin Cash

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Alicia Poto

Allison Tranquilli

Sandy Brondello

Penny Taylor

Suzy Batkovic

Trisha Fallon

Kristi Harrower

Laura Summerton

Belinda Snell

Natalie Porter

Rachael Sporn

Lauren Jackson

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Olga Arteshina

Oxana Rakhmatulina

Natalia Vodopyanova

Diana Goustilina

Yelena Baranova

Tatiana Shchegoleva

Ilona Korstin

Maria Stepanova

Maria Kalmykova

Elena Karpova

Irina Osipova

Anna Arkhipova

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter just one men's team with 12 players, and just one women's team with 12 players in the regional tournaments. 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 teams from the Americas and Europe competitions, and the runner-up Oceania in the men's tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up and third place teams from Asia and Europe, and the runner-up from Oceania.

Basketball – Men

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| || || || || || – World champions – Olympic hosts

Basketball – Women

{|class=wikitable width=100% valign=top

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| || || || || || – World champions – 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-placed teams from both groups compete for 9th place in an additional match.
Sixth-placed teams from both groups compete for 11th place in an additional match.
In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
From the eliminated teams at the quarterfinals, the loser from A1 vs. B4 competes against the loser from B1 vs. A4 for 7th place in an additional match. The remaining two loser teams compete for 5th place in an additional match.
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:

Group B:

Women

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

Group A:

Group B:

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

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

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Classification round

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

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

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Classification round

Final standings

{|class=wikitable

!rowspan=2|Rank

!colspan=4| Men

!colspan=4| Women

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| ||align=left| || 8 || 6 || 2

|align=left| || 8 || 8 || 0

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| ||align=left| || 8 || 5 || 3

|align=left| || 8 || 7 || 1

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| ||align=left| || 8 || 5 || 3

|align=left| || 8 || 6 || 2

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| 4th ||align=left| || 8 || 6 || 2

|align=left| || 8 || 4 || 4

!colspan=9|Eliminated at the quarterfinals

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| 5th ||align=left| || 7 || 4 || 3

|align=left| || 7 || 4 || 3

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| 6th ||align=left| || 7 || 3 || 4

|align=left| || 7 || 4 || 3

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| 7th ||align=left| || 7 || 6 || 1

|align=left| || 7 || 3 || 4

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| 8th ||align=left| || 7 || 2 || 5

|align=left| || 7 || 2 || 5

!colspan=9|Preliminary round 5th placers

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| 9th ||align=left| || 6 || 2 || 4

|align=left| || 6 || 2 || 4

|-align=center

| 10th ||align=left| || 6 || 1 || 5

|align=left| || 6 || 1 || 5

!colspan=9|Preliminary round 6th placers

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| 11th ||align=left| || 6 || 2 || 4

|align=left| || 6 || 1 || 5

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| 12th ||align=left| || 6 || 0 || 6

|align=left| || 6 || 0 || 6

References

External links

Olympics: men's basketball tournament 2004
Olympics: women's basketball yournament 2004
FIBA Olympic basketball website
2004 Olympic Games: Tournament for Men, FIBA Archive. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
2004 Olympic Games: Tournament for Women, FIBA Archive. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
Official result book – Basketball