# Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics was the first appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. The tournament was played between 7 and 14 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. 23 nations entered the competition, making basketball the largest tournament of the team sports, but Hungary and Spain withdrew, meaning 21 competed.
The International Olympic Committee and International Basketball Federation, which is the governing body of international basketball, used the 1936 tournament to experiment with outdoor basketball. Lawn and dirt tennis courts were used for the competition, but this caused problems when the weather was adverse, especially during the final of the tournament.
The medals were awarded by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. The United States won its first gold medal, while Canada and Mexico won silver and bronze, their only medals in basketball, as of 2024.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| United States (USA) Sam Balter Ralph Bishop Joe Fortenberry Tex Gibbons Francis Johnson Carl Knowles Frank Lubin Art Mollner Donald Piper Jack Ragland Willard Schmidt Carl Shy Duane Swanson Bill Wheatley | Canada (CAN) Gordon Aitchison Ian Allison Art Chapman Chuck Chapman Edward Dawson Irving Meretsky Doug Peden James Stewart Malcolm Wiseman Stanley Nantais | Mexico (MEX) Carlos Borja Víctor Borja Rodolfo Choperena Luis de la Vega Raúl Fernández Andrés Gómez Silvio Hernández Francisco Martínez Jesús Olmos José Pamplona Greer Skousen |
Note: The International Olympic Committee medal database shows only these players as medalists. They all played at least one match during the tournament. The reserve players are not listed as medalists.

## Results
### Brackets
#### Third round onwards

| Third round | Third round | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| | | United States | 56 | | |
| | | Philippines | 23 | | |
| Philippines | 39 | Philippines | 23 | | |
| Estonia | 22 | | | | |
| Estonia | 22 | | | United States | 25 |
| | | | | Mexico | 10 |
| Italy | 27 | | | Mexico | 10 |
| Chile | 19 | | | | |
| Chile | 19 | Italy | 17 | | |
| | | Mexico | 34 | | |
| Mexico | 28 | Mexico | 34 | | |
| Mexico | 28 | | | | | 14 August | 14 August |
| Japan | 22 | | | | | 14 August | 14 August |
| Japan | 22 | | | | | United States | 19 |
| | | | | | | Canada | 8 |
| Canada | 27 | | | | | Canada | 8 |
| Switzerland | 9 | | | | | | |
| Switzerland | 9 | Canada | 41 | | | | |
| | | Uruguay | 21 | | | | |
| Uruguay | 28 | Uruguay | 21 | | | | |
| Czechoslovakia | 19 | | | | | | |
| Czechoslovakia | 19 | | | Canada | 42 | | |
| | | | | Poland | 15 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Poland | 33 | | | Poland | 15 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Poland | 33 | | | | | 14 August | 14 August |
| Brazil | 25 | | | | | 14 August | 14 August |
| Brazil | 25 | Poland | | | | Mexico | 26 |
| | | bye | | | | Poland | 12 |

#### Fifth-place classification

| Classification semifinal | Classification semifinal | Classification semifinal | 5th place game | 5th place game | 5th place game |
| Philippines | Philippines | 32 | | | |
| Italy | Italy | 14 | | | |
| Italy | Italy | 14 | Philippines | Philippines | 32 |
| | | | Uruguay | Uruguay | 23 |

### First round

Winners advanced to the second round, while losers competed in the first consolation round for another chance to move on.
Byes: Philippines, United States (drawn against Spain, who withdrew) and Czechoslovakia (drawn against Hungary, who withdrew).

#### First consolation round

Winners returned to the main competition for the second round, while losers were eliminated.
* Uruguay 17–10 Belgium
* China 45–38 France
* Egypt 33–23 Turkey
Byes: Brazil, Germany and Poland

### Second round

Winners advanced to the third round. Losers competed in the second consolation round for another chance to move on.
* Philippines 32–30 Mexico
* Japan 43–31 Poland
* Uruguay 36–23 Egypt
* Peru 29–21 China
* United States 52–28 Estonia
* Italy 58–16 Germany
* Switzerland 25–12 Czechoslovakia
* Chile 23–18 Brazil
* Canada 34–23 Latvia

#### Second consolation round

* Poland def. Latvia, 28–23
* Brazil def. China, 32–14
* Mexico def. Egypt, 32–10
* Czechoslovakia def. Germany, 20–9
Bye: Estonia

### Third round

The third round was the first to cause automatic elimination for losers, with no consolation round. Winners advanced to the quarterfinals.
| Philippines | 39–22 | Estonia |
| Scoring by half: 21–4, 18–18 |||
* Berlin, Germany
| Chile | 19–27 | Italy |
| Scoring by half: 12–16, 7–11 |||
* Berlin, Germany
| Mexico | 28–22 | Japan |
| Scoring by half: 12–8, 16–14 |||
* Berlin, Germany
| Switzerland | 9–27 | Canada |
| Scoring by half: 1–13, 8–14 |||
* Berlin, Germany
| Uruguay | 28–19 | Czechoslovakia |
| Scoring by half: 14–8, 14–11 |||
* Berlin, Germany
| Brazil | 25–33 | Poland |
| Scoring by half: 10–17, 15–16 |||
* Berlin, Germany
Byes: United States and Peru

### Quarterfinals

Winners of the quarterfinals advanced to the medals round, with losers playing in classification matches.
* United States 56–23 Philippines
* Mexico 24–17 Italy
* Canada 41–21 Uruguay
Bye: Poland (Peru withdrew from the Olympic Games to protest the decision of the Olympic Committee and FIFA in the football tournament).

### Classification 5–8
#### Preliminary match

* Philippines 32–14 Italy
Bye: Uruguay (Peru withdrew from the competition – see above).

#### Fifth place match

* Philippines 33–23 Uruguay

## Medals round
### Semifinals

* 13 August
| United States | 25–10 | Mexico |
| Scoring by half: 13–2, 12–8 |||
* Berlin, Germany
| Poland | 15–42 | Canada |
| Scoring by half: 6–23, 9–19 |||
* Berlin, Germany

### Bronze medal match

* 14 August
| Mexico | 26–12 | Poland |
| Scoring by half: 23–8, 3–4 |||
* Berlin, Germany

### Final

* 14 August 18:00
| United States | 19–8 | Canada |
| Scoring by half: 15–4, 4–4 |||
| Pts: Fortenberry 8 | | |
* Berlin, Germany Attendance: 900+
The final was played in driving rain, turning the court into a quagmire such that it was impossible to dribble, while the conditions kept scoring to a minimum: highest scorer in the game was Joe Fortenberry of the United States, with eight points. In addition, almost all of the nearly 1,000 in attendance had to stand in the rain throughout the final, as there were virtually no seats for spectators.

## Awards

* 1936 Olympic Basketball champions
* United States First title

## Participating nations

For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads.
Each country was allowed to enter one team of 14 players and they all were eligible for participation; however, only seven were allowed to dress for competition at any one game.
A total of 199(*) basketball players from 21 nations competed at the Berlin Games:
* Belgium (8 – from a squad of 14)
* Brazil (8 – from a squad of 10)
* Canada (9 – from a squad of 14)
* Chile (7 – from a squad of 11)
* Republic of China (13 – from a squad of 14)
* Czechoslovakia (12 – from a squad of 12)
* Egypt (7 – from a squad of 10)
* Estonia (8 – from a squad of 11)
* France (11 – from a squad of 14)
* Germany (10 – from a squad of 14)
* Italy (13 – from a squad of 14)
* Japan (8 – from a squad of 11)
* Latvia (7 – from a squad of 11)
* Mexico (11 – from a squad of 11)
* Peru (9 – from a squad of 13)
* Philippines (9 – from a squad of 12)
* Poland (10 – from a squad of 14)
* Switzerland (8 – from a squad of 13)
* Turkey (8 – from a squad of 10)
* United States (14 – alternating squads of seven players)
* Uruguay (9 – from a squad of 13)
Hungary and Spain withdrew before playing a match.
(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least.
Not all reserve players are known.

## Summary

| Place | Nation |
| 1 | United States (USA) |
| | Head Coach: James Needles (Universal Pictures (CA)) Asst. coach: Gene Johnson (Globe Refiners) Sam Balter (Universal Pictures (UCLA)) Ralph Bishop (Washington) Joe Fortenberry (Globe Refiners (West Texas State)) Tex Gibbons (Globe Refiners (Southwestern)) Francis Johnson (Captain) (Globe Refiners (Wichita)) Carl Knowles (Universal Pictures (UCLA)) Frank Lubin (Universal Pictures (UCLA)) Art Mollner (Universal Pictures (L.A. J.C.)) Donald Piper (Universal Pictures (UCLA)) Jack Ragland (Globe Refiners (Wichita State)) Willard Schmidt (Globe Refiners (Creighton)) Carl Shy (Universal Pictures (UCLA)) Duane Swanson (Universal Pictures (USC)) Bill Wheatley (Globe Refiners) |
| 2 | Canada (CAN) |
| | Head Coach: Gordon Fuller (Windsor Ford V-8's) Asst. coach:Julius Goldman (Windsor Ford V-8's) Gordon Aitchison (Windsor Ford V-8's) Ian Allison (Windsor Ford V-8's) Art Chapman (Victoria Blue Ribbon) Chuck Chapman (Victoria Blue Ribbon) Edward Dawson (Windsor Ford V-8's) Irving Meretsky (Windsor Ford V-8's) Doug Peden (Victoria Blue Ribbon) James Stewart (Windsor Ford V-8's) Malcolm Wiseman (Windsor Ford V-8's)Norman Dawson (Windsor Ford V-8's) Don Gray (Windsor Ford V-8's) Stanley Nantais (Windsor Ford V-8's) Bob Osborne (University of British Columbia) Tom Pendlebury (Windsor Ford V-8's) |
| 3 | Mexico (MEX) |
| | Carlos Borja Víctor Borja Rodolfo Choperena Luis de la Vega Raúl Fernández Andrés Gómez Silvio Hernández Francisco Martínez Jesús Olmos José Pamplona Greer Skousen |
| 4 | Poland (POL)Head Coach: Walenty Kłyszejko Zdzisław Filipkiewicz Florian Grzechowiak Zdzisław Kasprzak Jakub Kopf Ewaryst Łój Janusz Patrzykont Andrzej Pluciński Zenon Różycki Paweł Stok Edward Szostak |
| 5 | Philippines (PHI)Head Coach: Dionisio Calvo Charles Borck Jacinto Ciria Cruz Franco Marquicias Primitivo Martínez Jesús Marzan Amador Obordo Bibiano Ouano Ambrosio Padilla Fortunato YambaoAntonio Carillo Miguel Pardo John Worrell |
| 6 | Uruguay (URU)Head Coach: Juan A. Collazo Gregorio Agós Umberto Bernasconi Galvar Rodolfo Braselli Prudencio de Pena Carlos Gabín Leandro Gómez Harley Alejandro González Roig Víctor Latou Jaume Tabaré QuintansHéctor González Alberto Martí Amílcar Mesa |
| 7 | Italy (ITA)Coaches: Decio Scuri-Guido Graziani Gino Basso Ambrogio Bessi Enrico Castelli Galeazzo Dondi Livio Franceschini Emilio Giassetti Giancarlo Marinelli Adolfo Mazzini Mario Novelli Sergio Paganella Michele Pelliccia Remo Piana Egidio Premiani |
| 8 | Peru (PER)Head Coach: Pedro Vera Manuel Arce Rolando Bacigalupo Willy Dasso Antuco Flecha José Carlos Godoy Miguel Godoy Luis Jacob Cañón Oré Armando RossiKoko Cárdenas Roberto Rospigliosi Fernando Ruiz Pedro Vera |
| 9–14 | Brazil (BRA)Armando Albano Baiano Coroa Carmino de Pilla Nelson Monteiro de Souza Miguel Pedro Martinez Lopes Américo Montanarini PavãoCacau José Oscar Zelaya Alonso |
| 9–14 | Chile (CHI)Luis Carrasco Augusto Carvacho José González Eusebio Hernández Luis Ibaseta Eduardo Kapstein Suckel Michel Mehech |
| 9–14 | Czechoslovakia (TCH)Jiří Čtyroký Alois Dvořáček Ludvík Dvořáček František Hájek Vítězslav Hloušek Josef Klíma Karel Kuhn Josef Moc František Picek F. Prokop Ladislav Prokop Ladislav Trpkoš |
| 9–14 | Estonia (EST)Head Coach: Herbert Niiler (Tartu NMKÜ) Erich Altosaar (Tallinna Kalev) Artur Amon (Tartu NMKÜ) Aleksander Illi (Tartu NMKÜ) Vladimir Kärk (Tartu NMKÜ) Robert Keres (Tartu NMKÜ) Evald Mahl (Tartu NMKÜ) Aleksander Margiste (Tallinna Kalev) Heino Veskila (Tartu NMKÜ)Bernhard Nooni (Tallinna Kalev) Leonid Saar (Tallinna NMKÜ) Georg Vinogradov (Tallinna Russ) |
| 9–14 | Japan (JPN)Richin Cho Takehiko Kanakogi Masayasu Maeda Satoshi Matsui Uichi Munakata Takao Nakae Seikyu Ri Kenshichi Yokoyama |
| 9–14 | Switzerland (SUI)Fernand Bergmann Pierre Carlier René Laederach Raymond Lambercy John Pallet Jean Pare Marcel Wuilleunier |
| 15–18 | Republic of China (ROC)Feng Hsu Li Shao-Tang Liu Bao-Cheng Liu Yun-Chang Mou Tso-Yun Shen Yi-Tung Tsai Yen-Hung Wang Hung-Pin Wang Shi-Hsuan Wang Yu-Tseng Wong Nan-Chen Yu Sai-Chang |
| 15–18 | Egypt (EGY)Abdel Moneim Wahib Hussein Albert Fahmy Tadros Edward Riskalla Gamal el din Sabri Goanni Nosseir Kamal Riad Mohamed Rashad Shafshak |
| 15–18 | Germany (GER) Head Coach: Hermann Niebuhr Bernhard Cuiper (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf) Robert Duis (DSC Berlin) Karl Endres (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf) Emil Göing (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf) Otto Kuchenbecker (Luftwaffen-Sportschule Spandau) Emil Lohbeck (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf) Hans Niclaus (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf) Kurt Oleska (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf) Siegfried Reischieß (VfB Breslau) Heinz Steinschulte (Luftwaffen-Sportschule Spandau)Willy Daume (TV Eintracht Dortmund) Otto Gottwald (Post SV Bad Kreuznach) Adolf Künzel (NSTV Breslau) Jupp Schäfer (TV Kreuznach 1848) |
| 15–18 | Latvia (LAT)Head Coach: Rihards Dekšenieks Eduards Andersons (US) Voldemārs Elmūts (US) Mārtiņš Grundmanis (ASK) Rudolfs Jurciņš (US) Maksis Kazaks (LJ) Visvaldis Melderis (ASK) Džems Raudziņš (US) Edgars Rūja (US) Askolds Hermanovskis (LJ) Aleksejs Anufrijevs (Starts) J.Tiltiņš (US) |
| 19–21 | Belgium (BEL)Robert Brouwer Gustave Crabbe René Demanck Raymond Gerard Émile Laermans Guillaume Merckx Pierre van Basselaere Gustave Vereecken |
| 19–21 | France (FRA)Pierre Boel (Olympique Lillois) Pierre Caque (Reims) Georges Carrier (CS Plaisance) Robert Cohu (Stade Français) Jean Couturier (Reims) Jacques Flouret (Paris UC) Edmond Leclere (Charleville) Étienne Onimus (CA Mulhouse) Fernand Prud'homme (AS Hippolyte) Étienne Roland (US Métro) Lucien Thèze (Romilly) |
| 19–21 | Turkey (TUR)Head Coach: Rupen Semerciyan Şeref Alemdar (Galatasaray) Hayri Arsebük (Galatasaray) Nihat Riza Ertuğ (Galatasaray) Jak Habib (Barkhoba) Naili Moran (Galatasaray) Hazdai Penso (Barkhoba) Dionis Sakalak (Kurtulus) Sadri UsluoğluKamil Ocak (Galatasaray) |
Note: Hungary and Spain withdrew before competition started