Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics

International 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

Qualification
| men| women
Tournament
| men| women
Rosters
| men| women

* v
* t
* e

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 took home their second gold medal in the team's history for this event. That team included a large percentage of Baltic basketballers: 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

[edit]

See also: List of Olympic medalists in basketball

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania | Automatic qualifiers

|
|
|
|
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Central African Republic
Egypt |  Puerto Rico
Brazil
Canada |  China |  Soviet Union
Yugoslavia
Spain |  Australia |  United States – Olympic Champions
South Korea – Olympic hosts

### Women

[edit]

Asia | Europe | Oceania | Automatic qualifiers

|
|
|

China |  Soviet Union
Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia
Bulgaria |  Australia |  United States – Olympic Champions
South Korea – Olympic hosts

## Format

[edit]

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:

1. Head to head results
2. Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams
3. Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group

## Men's tournament

[edit]

Main article: Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

### Preliminary round

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

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:

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

#### Group B

[edit]

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

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

[edit]

#### Championship bracket

[edit]

| 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

[edit]

Main article: Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

### Preliminary round

[edit]

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

[edit]

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]
3  |  Bulgaria | 3  | 1  | 2  | 217  | 241  | −24  | 4[b] | Classification round
4  |  South Korea (H) | 3  | 1  | 2  | 244  | 222  | +22  | 4[b]

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:

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

#### Group B

[edit]

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
3  |  China | 3  | 1  | 2  | 200  | 214  | −14  | 4  | Classification round
4  |  Czechoslovakia | 3  | 0  | 3  | 202  | 224  | −22  | 3

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

[edit]

#### Championship bracket

[edit]

| 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

[edit]

Rank  | Men  | Women

|
|

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

[edit]

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.

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

* v
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* e

Events at the 1988 Summer Olympics (Seoul)

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*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Pos]: Position
*[Pld]: Played
*[W]: Won
*[L]: Lost
*[PF]: Points for
*[PA]: Points against
*[PD]: Point difference
*[Pts]: Points