Basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics

9th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Montreal 1976
Tournament details
Olympics1976 Summer Olympics
Host nationCanada
CityMontreal
DurationJuly 18–27
Men's tournament
Teams12
Medals
1 Gold medalists  United States
2 Silver medalists Yugoslavia
3 Bronze medalists  Soviet Union
Women's tournament
Teams6
Medals
1 Gold medalists  Soviet Union
2 Silver medalists United States
3 Bronze medalists  Bulgaria
Tournaments
← Munich 1972  Moscow 1980 →

Basketball events at the 1976 Summer Olympics was the ninth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place from July 18 to July 27 at the Centre Étienne Desmarteau and the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Women's basketball was introduced to the Olympic program for the first time at this Games. The United States won the gold against Yugoslavia in the men's tournament, while the Soviet Union won the gold medal against the United States in the women's competition.

Medal summary[edit]

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's
details
 United States (USA)
Phil Ford
Steve Sheppard
Adrian Dantley
Walter Davis
Quinn Buckner
Ernie Grunfeld
Kenneth Carr
Scott May
Tate Armstrong
Tom LaGarde
Philip Hubbard
Mitch Kupchak
 Yugoslavia (YUG)
Blagoja Georgievski
Dragan Kićanović
Vinko Jelovac
Rajko Žižić
Željko Jerkov
Andro Knego
Zoran Slavnić
Krešimir Ćosić
Damir Šolman
Žarko Varajić
Dražen Dalipagić
Mirza Delibašić
 Soviet Union (URS)
Vladimir Arzamaskov
Aleksandr Salnikov
Valery Miloserdov
Alzhan Zharmukhamedov
Andrey Makeyev
Ivan Edeshko
Sergei Belov
Vladimir Tkachenko
Anatoly Myshkin
Mikheil Korkia
Aleksandr Belov
Vladimir Zhigily
Women's
details
 Soviet Union (URS)
Olga Barysheva
Tamāra Dauniene
Natalya Klimova
Tatyana Ovechkina
Angelė Rupšienė
Nadezhda Shuvayeva
Nadezhda Zakharova
Uljana Semjonova
Raisa Kurvyakova
Nelli Feryabnikova
Olga Sukharnova
Tetiana Zakharova
 United States (USA)
Cindy Brogdon
Susan Rojcewicz
Ann Meyers
Lusia Harris
Nancy Dunkle
Charlotte Lewis
Nancy Lieberman
Gail Marquis
Patricia Roberts
Mary Anne O'Connor
Patricia Head
Juliene Simpson
 Bulgaria (BUL)
Krasimira Bogdanova
Diana Dilova
Krasimira Gyurova
Penka Metodieva
Snezhana Mikhaylova
Girgina Skerlatova
Mariya Stoyanova
Margarita Shtarkelova
Petkana Makaveeva
Nadka Golcheva
Penka Stoyanova
Todorka Yordanova

Qualification[edit]

A single 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 three medal winners from the previous Olympic Games for the men's tournament, and the three first places at the 1975 FIBA World Championship for the women's tournament. Additional spots for the men's tournament were decided via the continental qualification tournaments held by FIBA and an extra qualifying tournament held in Hamilton, Canada months prior to the contest. The remaining slots for the women's competition were also assigned via another tournament held in the same city.

Men[edit]

Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Automatic qualifiers
 Egypt[a]  Mexico
 Puerto Rico[b]
 China[a]
 Japan[c]
 Italy
 Yugoslavia
 Czechoslovakia
 Australia  Soviet UnionGold medal in 1972
 United StatesSilver medal in 1972
 CubaBronze medal in 1972
 Canada – Olympic hosts

Women[edit]

Americas Europe Automatic qualifiers
 United States  Bulgaria  Soviet UnionWorld Champions
 Japan – 2nd place at the 1975 World Championship
 Czechoslovakia – 3rd place at the 1975 World Championship
 Canada – Olympic hosts
  • a Egypt withdrew from the Olympic Games after one match, following the boycott of several African countries against New Zealand. All matches involving Egypt were then forfeited.
  • b Puerto Rico qualified after winning the silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, since the gold medal went to the United States, who had already qualified.
  • c Replaced China.

Format[edit]

Men's tournament:

  • Two groups of six teams are formed, where the top two from each group advance to the semifinals.
  • Third and fourth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
  • Fifth and sixth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 9th–12th places in the final ranking.

Women's tournament:

  • One round-robin group is formed containing all six teams, where the final standings are decided.

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

Men's tournament[edit]

Preliminary round[edit]

The first two places in each of the preliminary round groups advanced to the semifinals, where Group A teams would meet Group B teams. The Soviet Union and the United States, two of the powerhouses at this tournament, finished the preliminary round undefeated. The host nation, Canada, also qualified for the semifinals together with Yugoslavia.

Egypt played only one match, against Czechoslovakia, and then flew home supporting the boycott of several African countries. Their remaining matches were forfeited.

Group A[edit]

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Soviet Union 5 5 0 548 374 +174 10 Semifinals
2  Canada (H) 5 4 1 446 416 +30 9
3  Cuba 5 3 2 448 402 +46 8 5th–8th classification round
4  Australia 5 2 3 472 481 −9 7
5  Mexico 5 1 4 461 511 −50 6 9th–12th classification round
6  Japan 5 0 5 364 555 −191 5
Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts
July 21
Mexico  117–120 (OT)  Australia

Group B[edit]

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  United States 5 5 0 396 349 +47 10 Semifinals
2  Yugoslavia 5 4 1 366 343 +23 9
3  Italy 5 3 2 349 344 +5 8 5th–8th classification round
4  Czechoslovakia 5 2 3 418 406 +12 7
5  Puerto Rico 5 1 4 323 363 −40 6 9th–12th classification round
6  Egypt 5 0 5 64 111 −47 5
Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
July 20
Forfeited
Italy  2–0  Egypt
July 21
Forfeited
Puerto Rico  2–0  Egypt
July 24
Forfeited
Yugoslavia  2–0  Egypt

Knockout stage[edit]

Championship bracket[edit]

Semifinals (July 26) Gold medal (July 27)
      
A1  Soviet Union 84
B2  Yugoslavia 89
B2  Yugoslavia 74
B1  United States 95
B1  United States 95
A2  Canada 77 Bronze medal (July 27)
A1  Soviet Union 100
A2  Canada 72

Classification brackets[edit]

5th–8th Place

Semifinals (July 25) 5th place (July 27)
      
A3  Cuba 76
B4  Czechoslovakia 91
B4  Czechoslovakia 75
B3  Italy 98
B3  Italy 79
A4  Australia 72 7th place (July 27)
A3  Cuba 92
A4  Australia 81

9th–12th Place

Semifinals (July 25) 9th place (July 27)
      
A5  Mexico 2
B6  Egypt 0[d]
A5  Mexico 84
B5  Puerto Rico 89
B5  Puerto Rico 111
A6  Japan 91 11th place (July 27)
B6  Egypt 0[d]
A6  Japan 2

d Forfeited match.

Women's tournament[edit]

The first Olympic Basketball Tournament for Women consisted of a single round-robin group, where final standings were determined by the group rankings. The Soviet team finished undefeated and won the gold medal, while the American team won the silver medal through a victory over the Bulgarian team that broke the tie between the two teams in favor of the American team.

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts
1  Soviet Union 5 5 0 504 346 +158 10
2  United States 5 3 2 415 417 −2 8
3  Bulgaria 5 3 2 365 377 −12 8
4  Czechoslovakia 5 2 3 351 359 −8 7
5  Japan 5 2 3 405 400 +5 7
6  Canada (H) 5 0 5 336 477 −141 5
Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts
July 25
Canada  62–85  Bulgaria
July 26
Soviet Union  98–75  Japan

Final standings[edit]

Rank Men Women
Team Pld W L Team Pld W L
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States 7 7 0  Soviet Union 5 5 0
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Yugoslavia 7 5 2  United States 5 3 2
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Soviet Union 7 6 1  Bulgaria 5 3 2
4th  Canada 7 4 3  Czechoslovakia 5 2 3
5th  Italy 7 5 2  Japan 5 2 3
6th  Czechoslovakia 7 3 4  Canada 5 0 5
7th  Cuba 7 4 3
8th  Australia 7 2 5
9th  Puerto Rico 7 3 4
10th  Mexico 7 2 5
11th  Japan 7 1 6
12th  Egypt 7 0 7

See also[edit]

References[edit]