Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics

12th Olympic Basketball Tournament
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	12
Medals
Gold medalists	Soviet Union
Silver medalists	Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists	United States
Women's tournament
Teams	8
Medals
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists	Soviet Union
Tournaments
← Los Angeles 1984	Barcelona 1992 →

Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics was the twelfth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Jamsil Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea from 17 September to 30 September 1988. The United States won the gold medal in the women's competition, repeating their performance from the 1984 tournament.

In the men's tournament, the Soviet Union won its second gold medal in the team's history for this event. That team included a large percentage of players from the Baltic states: Sabonis, Chomičius, Kurtinaitis and Marčiulionis from Lithuania, Miglinieks from Latvia and Tiit Sokk from Estonia.

This was the last Olympic basketball tournament where NBA players were not allowed to participate; FIBA voted in a rule change in 1989 that lifted that restriction, leading to the dominance of 1992's Dream Team.^[1]^[2]

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's details	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 Cvjetićanin	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 details	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 Vild 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 continental championships in Asia, Oceania, Africa and Americas and European qualifying tournament. Champions of Asia and Oceania, top two teams from Africa and top three from Americas earned direct qualification. The last three berths were allocated from the European qualifying tournament, held in the Netherlands, two months before Olympics tournament. 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 match ups 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 match ups 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 could not 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

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Yugoslavia	5	4	1	468	384	+84	9^[a]	Quarterfinals
2	Soviet Union	5	4	1	460	393	+67	9^[a]
3	Australia	5	3	2	429	408	+21	8^[b]
4	Puerto Rico	5	3	2	382	387	−5	8^[b]
5	Central African Republic	5	1	4	346	436	−90	6	9th–12th classification round
6	South Korea (H)	5	0	5	384	461	−77	5	9th–12th classification round

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Yugoslavia 1–0 Soviet Union
^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Australia 1–0 Puerto Rico

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	5	5	0	485	302	+183	10	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	5	4	1	484	435	+49	9
3	Brazil	5	3	2	590	522	+68	8
4	Canada	5	2	3	479	455	+24	7
5	China	5	1	4	433	527	−94	6	9th–12th classification round
6	Egypt	5	0	5	338	568	−230	5	9th–12th classification round

Source: FIBA archive
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Gold medal match

September 26

(A1) Yugoslavia	95
		September 28
(B4) Canada	73
		(A1) Yugoslavia	91
September 26
		(A3) Australia	70
(B2) Spain	74
				September 30
(A3) Australia	77
				(A1) Yugoslavia	63
September 26
				(A2) Soviet Union	76
(B1) United States	94
		September 28
(A4) Puerto Rico	57
		(B1) United States	76
September 26
		(A2) Soviet Union	82	Third place
(A2) Soviet Union	110
				September 29
(B3) Brazil	105
				(A3) Australia	49

				(B1) United States	78

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

The first two places in each of the preliminary round groups advanced to the semifinals, where Group A teams would meet Group B teams. Like their male counterparts, the Korea women's team did not manage to advance to the knockout stage and ended up battling for 5th place against the other Asian representative, China and two European teams, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	2	1	178	196	−18	5^[a]	Semifinals
2	Soviet Union	3	2	1	208	188	+20	5^[a]	Semifinals
3	Bulgaria	3	1	2	217	241	−24	4^[b]	Classification round
4	South Korea (H)	3	1	2	244	222	+22	4^[b]	Classification round

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Australia 1–0 Soviet Union
^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Bulgaria 1–0 South Korea

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	282	234	+48	6	Semifinals
2	Yugoslavia	3	2	1	199	211	−12	5	Semifinals
3	China	3	1	2	200	214	−14	4	Classification round
4	Czechoslovakia	3	0	3	202	224	−22	3	Classification round

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

Semifinals (September 27)			Gold medal (September 29)

A1	Australia	56

B2	Yugoslavia	57
			B2	Yugoslavia	70

			B1	United States	77
B1	United States	102

A2	Soviet Union	88	Bronze medal (September 28)


			A1	Australia	53

			A2	Soviet Union	68

Final standings

Rank	Men				Women
Rank	Team	Pld	W	L	Team	Pld	W	L
	Soviet Union	8	7	1	United States	5	5	0
	Yugoslavia	8	6	2	Yugoslavia	5	3	2
	United States	8	7	1	Soviet Union	5	3	2
4th	Australia	8	4	4	Australia	5	2	3
Eliminated in the quarterfinals					Eliminated in the group round
5th	Brazil	8	5	3	Bulgaria	5	3	2
6th	Canada	8	3	5	China	5	2	3
7th	Puerto Rico	8	4	4	South Korea	5	2	3
8th	Spain	8	4	4	Czechoslovakia	5	0	5
Eliminated in the group round
9th	South Korea	7	2	5
10th	Central African Republic	7	2	5
11th	China	7	2	5
12th	Egypt	7	0	7

References

^ Kalb, Elliott; Weinstein, Mark (2009). The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time. Skyhorse. p. 71. ISBN 9781602396784. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
^ Freedman, Lew (2015). The 100 Most Important Sporting Events in American History. ABC-CLIO. p. 121. ISBN 9781440835759. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

Official Olympic Report
USA Basketball
1988 Olympic Games: Tournament for Men, FIBA Archive
1988 Olympic Games: Tournament for Women, FIBA Archive

[table_hth_YUG0.33627306359647-3] Head-to-head record: Yugoslavia 1–0 Soviet Union

[table_hth_AUS0.33627306359647-4] Head-to-head record: Australia 1–0 Puerto Rico

[table_hth_URS0.62821302312809-5] Head-to-head record: Australia 1–0 Soviet Union

[table_hth_BUL0.62821302312809-6] Head-to-head record: Bulgaria 1–0 South Korea

[1] Kalb, Elliott; Weinstein, Mark (2009). The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time. Skyhorse. p. 71. ISBN 9781602396784. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

[2] Freedman, Lew (2015). The 100 Most Important Sporting Events in American History. ABC-CLIO. p. 121. ISBN 9781440835759. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

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Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Qualification
	men	women
Tournament
	men	women
Rosters
	men	women
v t e