Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's details	United States (USA) Charles Barkley Penny Hardaway Grant Hill Hakeem Olajuwon Karl Malone Reggie Miller Shaquille O'Neal Gary Payton Scottie Pippen Mitch Richmond David Robinson John Stockton	FR Yugoslavia (YUG) Dejan Tomašević Miroslav Berić Dejan Bodiroga Željko Rebrača Predrag Danilović Vlade Divac Aleksandar Đorđević Saša Obradović Žarko Paspalj Zoran Savić Nikola Lončar Milenko Topić	Lithuania (LTU) Arvydas Sabonis Rimas Kurtinaitis Darius Lukminas Saulius Štombergas Eurelijus Žukauskas Šarūnas Marčiulionis Mindaugas Žukauskas Gintaras Einikis Andrius Jurkūnas Artūras Karnišovas Rytis Vaišvila Tomas Pačėsas
Women's details	United States (USA) Teresa Edwards Dawn Staley Ruthie Bolton Sheryl Swoopes Jennifer Azzi Lisa Leslie Carla McGhee Katy Steding Katrina Felicia McClain Rebecca Lobo Venus Lacy Nikki McCray	Brazil (BRA) Hortência Marcari Oliva Maria Angélica Adriana Aparecida Santos Leila Sobral Maria Paula Silva Janeth Arcain Roseli Gustavo Marta Sobral Silvinha Alessandra Santos de Oliveira Cintia Santos Claudia Maria Pastor	Australia (AUS) Robyn Maher Allison Cook Sandy Brondello Michele Timms Shelley Sandie Trisha Fallon Michelle Chandler Fiona Robinson Carla Boyd Jenny Whittle Rachael Sporn Michelle Brogan

With the U.S. men's team winning the gold medal, Scottie Pippen would become the first person to win an NBA championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, after having played for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals.^[1] He had previously played with the Bulls in the 1992 and later that year, for the "Dream Team" at the Barcelona Olympics.

An NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. The reigning world champions and the host country qualify automatically, as do the winners of the five continental championships, plus the runner-up and third place from the Americas, the runner-up from Asia and the second through fourth places from the Europe tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up from the Americas, in addition to the second and third places from Asia and Europe.

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Angola	Puerto Rico  Argentina  Brazil	China  South Korea	FR Yugoslavia  Lithuania  Croatia  Greece	Australia	United States – World champions and Olympic hosts

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Zaire	Canada  Cuba	China  South Korea  Japan	Ukraine  Italy  Russia	Australia	Brazil – World champions  United States – Olympic hosts

• Twelve teams are split into two preliminary round groups of six teams each.
• The top four teams from both groups qualify for the knockout stage.
• Fifth and sixth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 9th–12th places in the final ranking.
• In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
  • The four eliminated from the quarterfinals form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
• The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A1/B4 vs. A3/B2 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1.
• The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.

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

The four best teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
United States	5	0	522	345	+177	10
Lithuania	3	2	427	354	+73	8	1W–0L
Croatia	3	2	422	386	+36	8	0W–1L
China	2	3	360	502	−142	7	1W–0L
Argentina	2	3	351	396	−45	7	0W–1L
Angola	0	5	280	379	−99	5

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
FR Yugoslavia	5	0	478	364	+114	10
Australia	4	1	492	438	+54	9
Greece	3	2	402	416	−14	8
Brazil	2	3	498	494	+4	7
Puerto Rico	1	4	447	465	−18	6
South Korea	0	5	422	562	−140	5

Quarterfinals (July 30)

Semifinals (August 1)

Gold medal (August 3)

B1

FR Yugoslavia

128

A4

China

61

B1

FR Yugoslavia

66

A2

Lithuania

58

A2

Lithuania

99

B3

Greece

66

B1

FR Yugoslavia

69

A1

United States

95

B2

Australia

73

A3

Croatia

71

B2

Australia

73

Bronze medal (August 3)

A1

United States

101

A1

United States

98

A2

Lithuania

80

B4

Brazil

75

B2

Australia

74

The four best teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Brazil	5	0	424	360	+64	10
Russia	4	1	378	342	+36	9
Italy	3	2	330	309	+21	8
Japan	2	3	365	396	−31	7
China	1	4	347	378	−31	6
Canada	0	5	293	352	−59	5

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
United States	5	0	507	339	+168	10
Ukraine	3	2	354	358	−4	8	1W–0L
Australia	3	2	369	319	+50	8	0W–1L
Cuba	2	3	365	377	−12	7	1W–0L
South Korea	2	3	347	389	−42	7	0W–1L
Zaire	0	5	287	447	−160	5

Quarterfinals (July 31)

Semifinals (August 2)

Gold medal (August 4)

B1

Brazil

101

A4

Cuba

69

B1

Brazil

81

A2

Ukraine

60

A2

Ukraine

59

B3

Italy

50

B1

Brazil

87

A1

United States

111

B2

Russia

70

A3

Australia

74

A3

Australia

71

Bronze medal (August 4)

A1

United States

93

A1

United States

108

A2

Ukraine

56

B4

Japan

93

A3

Australia

66

• 1996 Olympic Games: Tournament for Men, FIBA Archive. Accessed June 25, 2011.
• 1996 Olympic Games: Tournament for Women, FIBA Archive. Accessed June 25, 2011.