Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics

12th Olympic Basketball Tournament

Seoul 1988

Tournament details

Olympics

1988 Summer Olympics

Host nation

South Korea

City

Seoul

Duration

September 17 – September 30

Men's tournament

Teams

Medals
Gold medalists	Soviet Union
Silver medalists	Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists	United States

Women's tournament

Teams

Medals
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists	Soviet Union

Tournaments

← Los Angeles 1984

Barcelona 1992 →

Basketball in the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at the Jamsil Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea. The United States won the gold medal in the women's competition, thus repeating their performance from the 1984 tournament. In the men's tournament, the Soviet Union took home their second gold medal in the team's history for this event. This was the last Olympic basketball tournament where NBA players were not allowed to participate, although professionals from other leagues were allowed to compete, since players from other leagues were still considered amateurs. These were also the last Olympic basketball tournaments where the Soviets fielded a team, as the Soviet Union broke up prior to the 1992 Games. The United States was a major favorite to win it all with odds at -850.

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's	Soviet Union (URS) Aleksandr Volkov Tiit Sokk Sergei Tarakanov Šarūnas Marčiulionis Igors Miglinieks Valeri Tikhonenko Rimas Kurtinaitis Arvydas Sabonis Viktor Pankrashkin Valdemaras Chomičius Aleksandr Belostennyi Valeri Goborov	Yugoslavia (YUG) Dražen Petrović Zdravko Radulović Zoran Čutura Toni Kukoč Žarko Paspalj Željko Obradović Jure Zdovc Stojko Vranković Vlade Divac Franjo Arapović Dino Rađa Danko Cvjetičanin	United States (USA) Mitch Richmond Charles Smith IV Bimbo Coles Hersey Hawkins Jeff Grayer Charles D. Smith Willie Anderson Stacey Augmon Dan Majerle Danny Manning J. R. Reid David Robinson
Women's	United States (USA) Teresa Edwards Kamie Ethridge Cynthia Brown Anne Donovan Teresa Weatherspoon Bridgette Gordon Victoria Bullett Andrea Lloyd Katrina McClain Jennifer Gillom Cynthia Cooper Suzanne McConnell	Yugoslavia (YUG) Stojna Vangelovska Mara Lakić Žana Lelas Eleonora Wild Kornelija Kvesić Danira Nakić Slađana Golić Polona Dornik Razija Mujanović Vesna Bajkuša Anđelija Arbutina Bojana Milošević	Soviet Union (URS) Olga Yevkova Irina Gerlits Olesya Barel Irina Sumnikova Olga Buryakina Olga Yakovleva Irina Minkh Aleksandra Leonova Yelena Khudashova Vitalija Tuomaitė Natalya Zasulskaya Galina Savitskaya

Qualification

A NOC could enter one men's team with 12 players and one women's team with 12 players. For both tournaments, automatic qualifications were granted to the host country and the winners from the previous edition. For the men's tournament, the remaining teams were decided by the corresponding continental championships, plus the second and third places from Europe and the Americas, and the runner-up from Africa. For the women's tournament, qualification was decided by a tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where the top six teams earned a spot.

Men

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Central African Republic Egypt	Puerto Rico Brazil Canada	China	Soviet Union Yugoslavia Spain	Australia	United States – Olympic Champions South Korea – Olympic hosts

Women

Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
China	Soviet Union Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia Bulgaria	Australia	United States – Olympic Champions South Korea – Olympic hosts

Format

Men's tournament:

Two groups of six teams are formed, where the top four from each group advance to 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 teams 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.

Women's tournament:

Two groups of four teams are formed, where the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.
Third and fourth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
In the semifinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B2, A2 vs. B1.
The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.

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 top four places in each of the preliminary round groups advanced to the eight team, single-elimination knockout stage, where Group A teams would meet Group B teams. Hosts Korea couldn't advance, finishing at the bottom of their group. The other Asia representative, China, met the same fate, together with the two African teams, Egypt and Central African Republic.

Group A

	Qualified for the quarterfinals

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
Yugoslavia	4	1	468	384	+84	9	1W–0L
Soviet Union	4	1	460	393	+67	9	0W–1L
Australia	3	2	429	408	+21	8	1W–0L
Puerto Rico	3	2	382	387	−5	8	0W–1L
Central African Republic	1	4	346	436	−90	6
South Korea	0	5	384	461	−77	5

September 18

Australia	81–77	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 50–36, 31–41

Central African Republic	73–70	South Korea
Scoring by half: 47–30, 26–40

Soviet Union	79–92	Yugoslavia
Scoring by half: 33–39, 46–53

South Korea	74–79	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 30–38, 44–41

Australia	69–91	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 35–53, 34–38

South Korea	92–104	Yugoslavia
Scoring by half: 46–48, 46–56

Puerto Rico	81–93 (OT)	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 39–37, 37–39 Overtime: 5–17

Australia	106–67	Central African Republic
Scoring by half: 57–35, 49–32

Central African Republic	67–71	Puerto Rico
Scoring by half: 41–27, 26–34

South Korea	73–110	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 38–59, 35–51

Australia	78–98	Yugoslavia
Scoring by half: 43–52, 35–46

Australia	95–75	South Korea
Scoring by half: 51–39, 44–36

Central African Republic	78–87	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 31–40, 47–47

Puerto Rico	74–72	Yugoslavia
Scoring by half: 36–37, 38–35

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
United States	5	0	485	302	+183	10
Spain	4	1	484	435	+49	9
Brazil	3	2	590	522	+68	8
Canada	2	3	479	455	+24	7
China	1	4	433	527	−94	6
Egypt	0	5	338	568	−230	5

Brazil	125–109	Canada
Scoring by half: 56–45, 69–64

Spain	53–97	United States
Scoring by half: 32–48, 21–49

Brazil	130–108	China
Scoring by half: 72–61, 58–47

Canada	70–76	United States
Scoring by half: 42–40, 28–36

Egypt	70–113	Spain
Scoring by half: 44–57, 26–56

Brazil	87–102	United States
Scoring by half: 55–63, 32–39

Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Medalists

Qualification

Men

Women

Format

Men's Tournament

Preliminary Round

Group A

Group B

Knockout Stage

Championship bracket

Classification brackets

Women's Tournament

Preliminary Round

Group A

Group B

Knockout Stage

Championship bracket

Classification bracket

Final Standings

References

Canada	117–64	Egypt
Scoring by half: 61–32, 56–32

China	74–106	Spain
Scoring by half: 43–59, 31–57

Brazil	138–85	Egypt
Scoring by half: 66–38, 72–47

China	57–108	United States
Scoring by half: 26–59, 31–49

Egypt	35–102	United States
Scoring by half: 21–62, 14–40

Brazil	110–118	Spain
Scoring by half: 57–61, 53–57

September 28			5th place (September 30)

B3	Brazil	104
A4	Puerto Rico	86
			B3	Brazil	106
			B4	Canada	90
B4	Canada	96
B2	Spain	91	7th place (September 29)

			A4	Puerto Rico	93
			B2	Spain	92

September 26			9th place (September 29)

A5	Central Afr. Rep.	63
B6	Egypt	57
			A5	Central Afr. Rep.	81
			A6	South Korea	89
B5	China	90
A6	South Korea	93	11th place (September 29)

			B6	Egypt	75
			B5	China	97

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
Australia	2	1	178	196	−18	5	1W
Soviet Union	2	1	208	188	+20	5	0W
Bulgaria	1	2	217	241	−24	4	1W
South Korea	1	2	244	222	+22	4	0W

Bulgaria	62–91	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 26–50, 36–41