OLYMPIC GAMES | BASKETBALL
When was the last time Team USA didn’t win the gold medal in basketball in the Olympics?
Team USA will face France in the final of the men’s basketball tournament at the 2024 Olympics, having won the last four editions.
The United States will face France in the final of the men’s basketball tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, and are now just one game away from continuing their total domination of the event. However, at one stage in the semifinals against Serbia, Team USA were 13 points down and it looked as if they could be in danger of recording their worst ever performance.
How many times has Team USA won the Olympic men’s basketball tournament?
Team USA have an astonishing record in the tournament since making their first appearance in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. They started their supremacy with seven straight gold medals and, up until the 2020 Olympics, had incredibly occupied the top spot on the podium 16 times in 19 editions of the Games.
When have the United States failed to win in men’s basketball?
They failed to win the tournament for the first time in 1972 in Munich, 36 years after they had made their Olympic debut. On that occasion, they were defeated 51-50 by the Soviet Union in the final, taking their only silver medal to date.
The US’ only other failures to win came in 1988 and 2004, when they lost in the semifinals. In the first of the two tournaments in Seoul, they again lost to the Soviets, this time in the last four, but comfortably defeated Australia to clinch the bronze medal.
16 years later, they were beaten to eventual winners Argentina in the semis and edged out Lithuania to finish on the bottom step. Since then, they have triumphed in the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 tournaments, with their last elimination coming almost 20 years ago, on 27 August 2004.
The only other Olympic men’s basketball tournament Team USA has failed to win was in 1980, when they didn’t take part. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States was among a host of countries who boycotted the Games in Moscow, which led to the Soviet Union and its satellite states following suit in Los Angeles in 1984.
Which other countries have won a gold medal in Olympic men’s basketball?
The Soviet Union (1972 and 1988), Yugoslavia (1980) and Argentina (2004) are the only other countries than have been crowned Olympic champions in 88 years of men’s basketball tournaments. Could France join them or will the US continue their dominance?