Sixteen national teams competed for the championship. Australia came away with the gold medal by beating Russia 91–74. As of 2024 United states semi-final's loss to Russia remains the last one in the official game.
Except Brazil, which automatically qualified as the host, and the United States, which automatically qualified as the reigning Olympic champion, the 14 remaining countries qualified through their continents’ qualifying tournaments:
FIBA Europe – Spain, France, Lithuania, Czech Republic (European Champion), Russia
FIBA Americas – Brazil (host), United States (Olympic Champion), Canada, Argentina, Cuba
Legend: Pts: classification points (game won is 2 pts, game lost is 1), W: games won, L: game lost, PF : points scored, PC: points against, Diff.: difference; in green the squads qualified for eighth-final round.
The four best squads of each group qualify for quarter-finals. All Preliminary Round games played by teams qualifying for the Eighth-finals carry over into the Eighth-final standings.