Basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics

9th Olympic Basketball Tournament
9th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Montreal 1976
Tournament details
Olympics	1976 Summer Olympics
Host nation	Canada
City	Montreal
Duration	July 18–27
Men's tournament
Teams	12
Medals
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists	Soviet Union
Women's tournament
Teams	6
Medals
Gold medalists	Soviet Union
Silver medalists	United States
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

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's	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	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

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

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Egypt^[a]	Mexico Puerto Rico^[b]	China^[a] Japan^[c]	Italy Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia	Australia	Soviet Union – Gold medal in 1972 United States – Silver medal in 1972 Cuba – Bronze medal in 1972 Canada – Olympic hosts

Women

Americas	Europe	Automatic qualifiers
United States	Bulgaria	Soviet Union – World 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

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:

Head to head results
Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams
Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

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

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	Semifinals
3	Cuba	5	3	2	448	402	+46	8	5th–8th classification round
4	Australia	5	2	3	472	481	−9	7	5th–8th classification round
5	Mexico	5	1	4	461	511	−50	6	9th–12th classification round
6	Japan	5	0	5	364	555	−191	5	9th–12th classification round

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 18

Canada

104–76

Basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Tournament
	men	women
Squads
	men	women
Qualification
	men	women

Medal summary

Qualification

Men

Women

Format

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

Classification brackets

Women's tournament

Final standings

See also

References