Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics


Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the sixteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena, a part of the Hellinikon Olympic Complex, in Athens, for the preliminary rounds, with the later stages being held in the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex.
In Olympic basketball tournaments, 12 teams take part. The host nation automatically receives a berth in the tournament. By winning the two World Championship tournaments in 2002, FR Yugoslavia, now named Serbia and Montenegro, also put a team into the men's tournament and the United States a team in the women's tournament.
The remaining 10 spots in each tournament were allocated by the five Olympic zones. Each of these zones held its own tournaments to select its entries in the Olympic tournament. Africa was allocated one spot in each of these, Oceania was allocated two apiece, and Europe was allocated three. Furthermore, the Americas were allocated three teams for the men's tournament and just one in the women's tournament, whereas Asia was allocated just one in the men's tournament and three in the women's tournament.

Medalists

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee may enter just one men's team with 12 players, and just one women's team with 12 players in the regional tournaments. 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 teams from the Americas and Europe competitions, and the runner-up Oceania in the men's tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up and third place teams from Asia and Europe, and the runner-up from Oceania.

Basketball – Men

AfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeOceaniaAutomatic qualifiers



World champions
– Olympic hosts

Basketball – Women

AfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeOceaniaAutomatic qualifiers



– World champions
– Olympic hosts

Format

Tie-breaking criteria:
  1. Head to head results
  2. Goal average between the tied teams
  3. Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group

    Teams

Men

The men's event involved twelve teams split equally into two groups.
Group A:
Group B:

Women

The women's event involved 12 teams split in two groups.
Group A:
Group B:

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

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

Group A

Group B

Knockout Stage

Classification round

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

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

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Classification round

Final standings