# Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics was the thirteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It included the sport of basketball's men's and women's competitions of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The games were played at the Pavelló Olímpic de Badalona. 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams participated in the tournament.
This was the first time that NBA players were eligible to play in Summer Olympics basketball, following a decision of FIBA in April 1989. Until 1992, only amateurs and players from professional leagues other than the NBA were allowed to play.
The United States men's team, which was nicknamed "The Dream Team", won the gold medal in the men's tournament by beating Croatia in the men's final, with Lithuania winning the bronze medal. A documentary film, The Other Dream Team, covered the progress of the Lithuanian team.
The Unified Team, representing the Commonwealth of Independent States, of the recently defunct Soviet Union, won the women's tournament, with China as runner-up. The United States women's team won the bronze medal after losing to the CIS in the semifinal, suffering their third and last defeat to date in the Olympic basketball history.
The men's top scorer was Oscar Schmidt with 198 points in 8 games, with an average of 24.7 points, and Drazen Petrovic was second with 187 points in 7 games, with an average of 26.7 points.

## Medal summary

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men's details | United States (USA) Christian Laettner David Robinson Patrick Ewing Larry Bird Scottie Pippen Michael Jordan Clyde Drexler Karl Malone John Stockton Chris Mullin Charles Barkley Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr. | Croatia (CRO) Dražen Petrović Velimir Perasović Danko Cvjetičanin Toni Kukoč Vladan Alanović Franjo Arapović Žan Tabak Stojko Vranković Alan Gregov Arijan Komazec Dino Rađa Aramis Naglić | Lithuania (LTU) Valdemaras Chomičius Alvydas Pazdrazdis Arūnas Visockas Darius Dimavičius Romanas Brazdauskis Gintaras Krapikas Rimas Kurtinaitis Arvydas Sabonis Artūras Karnišovas Šarūnas Marčiulionis Gintaras Einikis Sergejus Jovaiša |
| Women's details | Unified Team (EUN) Yelena Zhirko Yelena Baranova Irina Guerlits Yelena Tornikidu Yelena Shvaybovich Marina Tkachenko Irina Minkh Yelena Khudashova Irina Soumnikova Elen Bounatiants Natalia Zasulskaya Svetlana Zaboluyeva | China (CHN) Cong Xuedi He Jun Li Dongmei Li Xin Liu Jun Liu Qing Peng Ping Wang Fang Zhan Shuping Zheng Dongmei Zheng Haixia Zheng Xiulin | United States (USA) Teresa Edwards Daedra Charles Clarissa Davis Teresa Weatherspoon Tammy Jackson Vickie Orr Victoria Bullett Carolyn Jones Katrina Felicia McClain Medina Dixon Cynthia Cooper Suzanne McConnell |

## Qualification

A NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. For the men's tournament, the host country qualified automatically, as did the winners of the continental championships held for Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Americas, plus the runner-up, third and fourth place from the Americas competitions. A special qualifying tournament was held for European teams to allocate four extra berths. For the women's tournament, the host team qualified automatically, as did the top three teams from the 1990 FIBA World Championship. A qualifying tournament was held to allocate four extra berths. Yugoslavia was replaced by Italy (the fifth place team from the qualifying tournament) after it was excluded from the Olympic tournament.

### Men

| Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania | Automatic qualifiers |
| Angola | United States Venezuela Brazil Puerto Rico | China | Lithuania Croatia CIS Germany | Australia | Spain – Olympic hosts |

### Women

| Americas | Asia | Europe | Automatic qualifiers |
| United States Cuba Brazil | China | Italy CIS Czechoslovakia | Spain – Olympic hosts |
* $^a$ Replaced Yugoslavia.

## 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 through 12th places in the final ranking.
* In the quarterfinals, the pairings 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 through 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:
* Two groups of four teams are formed, where the top two from each group advance to the knockout stage.
* Third and fourth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
* The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.
Tie-breaking criteria:
* Head to head results

## 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.

#### Group A

* Qualified for the quarterfinals
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Tie |
| United States | 5 | 0 | 579 | 350 | +229 | 10 | |
| Croatia | 4 | 1 | 423 | 400 | +23 | 9 | |
| Brazil | 2 | 3 | 420 | 463 | −43 | 7 | 1–0 |
| Germany | 2 | 3 | 369 | 432 | −63 | 7 | 0–1 |
| Angola | 1 | 4 | 324 | 392 | −68 | 6 | 1–0 |
| Spain | 1 | 4 | 398 | 476 | −78 | 6 | 0–1 |
DAY 1
USA 116-48 Angola
Croatia 96-73 Brazil
Germany 83-74 Spain
Day 2
USA 103-70 Croatia
Spain 101-100 Brazil
Germany 64-63 Angola
Day 3
USA 111-68 Germany
Croatia 88-79 Spain
Angola 66-76 Brazil
Day 4
USA 127-83 Brazil
Croatia 98-74 Germany
Spain 63-83 Angola
Day 5
USA 122-81 Spain
Croatia 73-64 Angola
Germany 76-85 Brazil

#### Group B

* Qualified for the quarterfinals
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Tie |
| CIS | 4 | 1 | 425 | 373 | +52 | 9 | 1–0 |
| Lithuania | 4 | 1 | 481 | 424 | +57 | 9 | 0–1 |
| Australia | 3 | 2 | 432 | 396 | +36 | 8 | 1–0 |
| Puerto Rico | 3 | 2 | 445 | 440 | +15 | 8 | 0–1 |
| Venezuela | 1 | 4 | 392 | 427 | −35 | 6 | |
| China | 0 | 5 | 381 | 496 | −115 | 5 | |
Day 1
CIS 78-64 Venezuela
Lithuania 112-75 China
Puerto Rico 76-116 Australia
Day 2
CIS 85-63 Australia
Puerto Rico 100-68 China
Venezuela 79-87 Lithuania
Day 3
CIS 100-84 China
Australia 78-71 Venezuela
Lithuania 104-91 Puerto Rico.
Day 4
CIS 92-80 Lithuania
Australia 88-66 China
Puerto Rico 96-82 Venezuela
Day 5
CIS 70-82 Puerto Rico
Venezuela 96-88 China
Lithuania 98-87 Australia

### Knockout stage

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Gold medal game | Gold medal game | Gold medal game |
| A1 | United States | 115 | | | | | | |
| B4 | Puerto Rico | 77 | | | | | | |
| B4 | Puerto Rico | 77 | A1 | United States | 127 | | | |
| | | | B2 | Lithuania | 76 | | | |
| B2 | Lithuania | 114 | B2 | Lithuania | 76 | | | |
| A3 | Brazil | 96 | | | | | | |
| A3 | Brazil | 96 | | | | A1 | United States | 117 |
| | | | | | | A2 | Croatia | 85 |
| B1 | CIS | 83 | | | | | | | A2 | Croatia | 85 |
| A4 | Germany | 76 | | | |
| A4 | Germany | 76 | B1 | CIS | 74 | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game |
| | | | A2 | Croatia | 75 |
| A2 | Croatia | 98 | A2 | Croatia | 75 | B1 | CIS | 78 |
| B3 | Australia | 65 | | | | B2 | Lithuania | 82 |

## Women's tournament
### Preliminary round

The best two teams from each group advanced to the semifinals. The United States and Cuba advanced undefeated through the group phase but couldn't reach the finals and ended up facing each other for the bronze medal instead.

#### Group A

* Qualified for the semifinals
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| Cuba | 3 | 0 | 246 | 230 | +16 | 6 |
| CIS | 2 | 1 | 244 | 222 | +22 | 5 |
| Brazil | 1 | 2 | 237 | 241 | −4 | 4 |
| Italy | 0 | 3 | 190 | 224 | −34 | 3 |
Day 1
Cuba 91-89 CIS
Brazil 85-70 Italy
Day 2
CIS 77-67 Italy
Cuba 95-87 Brazil
Day 3
CIS 76-64 Brazil
Cuba 60-53 Italy

#### Group B

* Qualified for the semifinals
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| United States | 3 | 0 | 318 | 181 | +137 | 6 |
| China | 2 | 1 | 205 | 226 | −21 | 5 |
| Spain | 1 | 2 | 181 | 238 | −57 | 4 |
| Czechoslovakia | 0 | 3 | 183 | 242 | −59 | 3 |
Day 1
USA 111-55 Czechoslovakia
China 66-63 Spain
Day 2
Spain 59-58 Czechoslovakia
USA 93-61 China
Day 3
China 72-70 Czechoslovakia
USA 114-58 Spain

### Knockout stage

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| B1 | United States | 73 | | | |
| A2 | CIS | 79 | | | |
| A2 | CIS | 79 | A2 | CIS | 76 |
| | | | B2 | China | 66 |
| A1 | Cuba | 70 | B2 | China | 66 |
| B2 | China | 109 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | B1 | United States | 88 |
| | | | A1 | Cuba | 74 |

## Final standings

| Rank | Men | Men | Men | Women | Women | Women |
| Rank | Team | W | L | Team | W | L |
| | United States | 8 | 0 | CIS | 4 | 1 |
| | Croatia | 6 | 2 | China | 3 | 2 |
| | Lithuania | 6 | 2 | United States | 4 | 1 |
| 4th | CIS | 5 | 3 | Cuba | 3 | 2 |
| Eliminated at the quarterfinals | Eliminated at the quarterfinals | Eliminated at the quarterfinals | Eliminated at the quarterfinals | Eliminated at the preliminary round | Eliminated at the preliminary round | Eliminated at the preliminary round |
| 5th | Brazil | 4 | 4 | Spain | 3 | 2 |
| 6th | Australia | 4 | 4 | Czechoslovakia | 1 | 4 |
| 7th | Germany | 3 | 5 | Brazil | 2 | 3 |
| 8th | Puerto Rico | 3 | 5 | Italy | 0 | 5 |
| Eliminated at the preliminary round |||||||
| 9th | Spain | 3 | 4 | | | |
| 10th | Angola | 2 | 5 | | | |
| 11th | Venezuela | 2 | 5 | | | |
| 12th | China | 0 | 7 | | | |