Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics explained

Type:Olympics
City:Athens
Year:2004
Size:150px
Games:2004 Summer Olympics
Host:Greece
Dates:15–28 August 2004
Men Teams:12
Men Gold:Argentina
Men Silver:Italy
Men Bronze:United States
Women Teams:12
Women Gold:United States
Women Silver:Australia
Women Bronze:Russia
Prev:Sydney 2000
Next:Beijing 2008

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.[1] 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.

The United States team's third-place finish in the men's tournament was an embarrassment for the country that birthed the sport. The following Summer Olympics, the U.S. was represented by the Redeem Team, sporting an improved roster led by international superstars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade, under the coaching of Mike Krzyzewski, and returned the gold medal to America.

Medalists

See also: List of Olympic medalists in basketball.

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
Women

Shannon Johnson
Dawn Staley
Sue Bird
Sheryl Swoopes
Ruth Riley
Lisa Leslie
Tamika Catchings
Tina Thompson
Diana Taurasi
Yolanda Griffith
Katie Smith
Swin Cash

Alicia Poto
Allison Tranquilli
Sandy Brondello
Penny Taylor
Suzy Batkovic
Trisha Fallon
Kristi Harrower
Laura Summerton
Belinda Snell
Natalie Porter
Rachael Sporn
Lauren Jackson

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

See main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification.

width=13%Africa !width=13%Americas !width=13%Asia !width=13%Europe !width=13%Oceania !width=26%Automatic qualifiers





World champions
– Olympic hosts

Basketball – Women

See main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification.

width=13%Africa !width=13%Americas !width=13%Asia !width=13%Europe !width=13%Oceania !width=26%Automatic qualifiers





World champions
– Olympic hosts

Format

Tie-breaking criteria:

  1. Head to head results
  2. Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams
  3. 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.

See also: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads.

Group A:

Group B:

Women

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

See also: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's team squads.

Group A:

Group B:

Men's tournament

See main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament.

Preliminary round

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

Group B

Classification round

Women's tournament

See main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament.

Preliminary round

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

Group B

Classification round

Final standings

RankMenWomen
width=180pxTeam !width=20pxPld !width=20pxW !width=20pxL !width=150pxTeam !width=20pxPld !width=20pxW !width=20pxL
8 6 28 8 0
8 5 3 8 7 1
8 5 3 8 6 2
4th 8 6 28 4 4
Eliminated at the quarterfinals
5th 7 4 37 4 3
6th 7 3 47 4 3
7th 7 6 17 3 4
8th 7 2 57 2 5
Preliminary round 5th placers
9th 6 2 46 2 4
10th 6 1 56 1 5
Preliminary round 6th placers
11th 6 2 46 1 5
12th 6 0 6 6 0 6

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2004/or2004b.pdf Olympic Games Official Report 2004 Athens-Volume II