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Basketball At The 2004 Summer Olympics




Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place at the indoor arena in the Helliniko Olympic Complex for the preliminary rounds, with the latter stages being held in the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex .

Reigning Gold Medal lists from the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics in both the men's and women's event, the United States Of America failed to retain its men's title, but successfully defended its women's title.


QUALIFICATION

In each competition, 12 teams took part in the Olympics. The host nation ( Greece ) automatically received a berth in both tournaments. Winning in the 2002 World Championships also earned a berth for Serbia and Montenegro (as Yugoslavia at the time) in the men's tournament and the United States in the women's.

The remaining 10 spots in each tournament were allocated to the five Olympic Continents . Each continent held a tournament to determine its entries. Africa received 1 spot in each sex, Oceania received 2, and Europe received 3. America received 3 places in the men's tournament but only 1 in the women's, while Asia received 1 in the men's and 3 in the women's.


RESULTS



MEN'S


Final ranking

# Argentina
# Italy
# United States Of America
# Lithuania
# Greece
# Puerto Rico
# Spain
# People's Republic Of China
#
# New Zealand
# Serbia And Montenegro
# Angola


Tournament Summary


Pool Play: Group A

Spain was one of two teams to go undefeated in the preliminary round – the other being Lithuania in Group B. World champions Serbia & Montenegro played its worst Olympic performance ever, finishing last in the pool having lost to all but Italy.


Pool Play: Group B

Lithuania, like Spain, went undefeated in the preliminaries. The United States, the defending champions, overcame losses to Puerto Rico and Lithuania to advance to the quarter finals.


9th to 12th place classification


Serbia and Montenegro's 11th-place finish is their worst in Olympic history.

Leading scorers for 9th to 12th place classification:


Quarter finals

In spite of an undefeated preliminary round, the Spaniards were ousted by the " Dream Team " to the jeers of the crowd assembled in the arena and to the chagrin of Spanish head coach Mario Pesquera .

Unlike their Spanish counterparts, however, the Lithuanians had an easy time disposing of the Del Harris -led Chinese squad.

Argentina, led by 13 points from both Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto , disposed of the home squad, led by the 12 points from Nikolaos Chatzivrettas .

Leading scorers for the quarter finals:


5th to 8th place classification

Leading scorers for 5th to 8th place classification:


Semi finals

It is not clear which of the two above games provided the most surprising defeat.

Leading scorers for the semi finals:


Bronze Medal Match

The United States won its first bronze medal since 1988 by avenging the preliminary loss to Lithuania of one week earlier.

Leading scorers:


Final

Argentina won its first ever Olympic gold medal in basketball and became the first nation other than the United States to win the gold medal since 1988.

Leading scorers:


WOMEN'S


Final ranking

# United States Of America
# Australia
# Russia
# Brazil
# Czech Republic
# Spain
# Greece
# New Zealand
# People's Republic Of China
# Japan
# Nigeria
# South Korea


Tournament Summary


Pool Play: Group A



Pool Play: Group B



9th to 12th place classification



5th to 8th place classification



Quarter-finals


Semi finals


Bronze Medal Match


Final



TEAMS

''See Basketball At The 2004 Summer Olympics (team Squads) ''


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