Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics
| 1st Olympic Basketball Tournament | |||||||||
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| Berlin 1936 | |||||||||
| Tournament details | |||||||||
| Olympics | 1936 Summer Olympics | ||||||||
| Host nation | Nazi Germany | ||||||||
| City | Berlin | ||||||||
| Duration | August 7 – August 14 | ||||||||
| Men's tournament | |||||||||
| Teams | 21 | ||||||||
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| Tournaments | |||||||||
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Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics was the first appearance of the sport as an official medal event. The tournament was played between 7 August and 14 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. 23 nations entered the competition, making basketball the largest tournament of the team sports.
The International Basketball Federation, which is the governing body of international basketball, used the 1936 tournament to experiment with outdoor basketball. Lawn tennis courts were used for the competition. This caused problems when the weather was adverse, especially during the final game.
The medals were awarded by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. All went to North American teams.
Medallists
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 | Fourth round | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||||||
 United States |
56 | |||||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Philippines |
39 | Philippines |
23 | |||||||||||||||
 Estonia |
22 | United States |
25 | |||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Italy |
27 | .svg.png){kind=small} Mexico |
10 | |||||||||||||||
 Chile |
19 | Italy |
17 | |||||||||||||||
| Mexico |
28 | Mexico |
34 | |||||||||||||||
 Japan |
22 | United States |
19 | |||||||||||||||
 Canada |
27 | Canada |
8 | |||||||||||||||
 Switzerland |
9 | Canada |
41 | |||||||||||||||
 Uruguay |
28 | Uruguay |
21 | |||||||||||||||
 Czechoslovakia |
19 | Canada |
42 | Bronze medal match | ||||||||||||||
 Poland |
33 | Poland |
15 | |||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Brazil |
25 | Poland (w/o) |
2 | Mexico |
26 | |||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Peru |
0 | Poland |
12 | |||||||||||||||
Fifth-place classification
| Preliminary round | 5th place game | ||||||||
| Philippines
| 32 | ||||||||
| Italy
| 14 | ||||||||
| Philippines
| 32 | ||||||||
| Uruguay
| 23 | ||||||||
| 3 | Uruguay (w/o)
| 2 | |||||||
| Peru
| 0 | ||||||||
First round
Winners advanced to the second round. Losers competed in the first consolation round for another chance to move on.
- Estonia def. France, 34–29
- Chile def. Turkey, 30–16
- Switzerland def. Germany, 25–18
- Italy def. Poland, 44–28
- Peru def. Egypt, 35–22
- Latvia def. Uruguay, 20–17
- Brazil def. Canada, 24–17
- Japan def. China, 35–19
- Mexico def. Belgium, 32–9
- United States def. Spain, forfeit
- Czechoslovakia def. Hungary, forfeit
- Philippines
First consolation round
Winners returned to the main competition for the second round. Losers were out of the tournament.
- Uruguay def. Belgium, 17–10
- China def. France, 45–38
- Egypt def. Turkey, 33–23
- Canada def. Hungary, forfeit
- Germany def. Spain, forfeit
- Poland
Second round
Winners advanced to the third round. Losers competed in the second consolation round for another chance to move on.
- Philippines def. Mexico, 32–30
- Japan def. Poland, 43–31
- Uruguay def. Egypt, 36–23
- Peru def. China, 29–21
- United States def. Estonia, 52–28
- Italy def. Germany, 58–16
- Switzerland def. Czechoslovakia, 25–12
- Chile def. Brazil, 23–18
- Canada def. Latvia, 34–23
Second consolation round
- Poland def. Latvia, 28–23
- Brazil def. China, 32–14
- Mexico def. Egypt, 32–10
- Czechoslovakia def. Germany, 20–0
- Estonia
Third round
The third round was the first to cause automatic elimination for losers, with no consolation round. Winners advanced to the fourth round.
- Philippines def. Estonia, 39–22
- Italy def. Chile, 27–19
- Mexico def. Japan, 28–22
- Canada def. Switzerland, 27–9
- Uruguay def. Czechoslovakia, 28–19
- Poland def. Brazil, 33–25
- United States, BYE
- Peru, BYE
Fourth round
Winners of the fourth round advanced to the medals round, with losers playing in classification matches.
- United States def. Philippines, 56–23
- Mexico def. Italy, 34–17
- Canada def. Uruguay, 41–21
- Poland def. Peru, forfeit
The National Olympic Team from Peru abandoned the Olympic games in protest to the actions of German authorities in the football tournament.
Classification 5–8
Preliminary matches
- Philippines def. Italy, 32–14
- Uruguay def. Peru, forfeit
Peru forfeit: See above.
Fifth place match
- Philippines def. Uruguay, 33–23
Medals round
Semifinals
- United States def. Mexico, 25–10
- Canada def. Poland, 42–15
Bronze medal match
- Mexico def. Poland, 26–12
Final
The final was played on 14 August in bad conditions. The contest was played outdoors, on a dirt court in a driving rain. Due to the quagmire, the teams could not dribble and the score was held to a minimum. High scorer in the game was Joe Fortenberry for the United States with 7 points. In addition, there were no seats for spectators and the nearly 1,000 in attendance had to stand in the rain throughout the entire game.
- United States def. Canada, 19–8
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.
A total of 199(*) basketball players from 21 nations competed at the Berlin Games:
-
.svg.png)
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)
-
.svg.png)
Egypt (7 – from a squad of 10) - Estonia (8 – from a squad of 11)
-
France (11 – from a squad of 14) -
.svg.png)
Germany (10 – from a squad of 14) - Italy (13 – from a squad of 14)
-
.svg.png)
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)
-
.svg.png)
Poland (10 – from a squad of 14) - Switzerland (8 – from a squad of 13)
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Turkey (8 – from a squad of 10) - United States (14)
- Uruguay (9 – from a squad of 13)
(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least.
Not all reserve players are known.
Summary
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Note: Hungary and Spain withdrew before competition started
References
- ↑ (Italian) – Un viaggio all’interno di questi Ottanta anni. FIP.it.
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