Olympic history

Basketball made its appearance at the Olympic Games in 1904 in St Louis as a demonstration sport, as the competition was held between only American teams and counted as an event of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU of the USA) Championships.
At the Games in 1936 in Berlin, basketball joined the Olympic programme, where it has remained to this day. Women’s basketball debuted at the 1976 Games in Montreal.
The USA dominates international basketball and won all the titles up to 1972, the year it was defeated by the Soviet Union at the Munich Games. In the women’s event, the Soviets took gold in 1976, 1980 and 1992, and were later dominated by the Americans between 1984 and 2008, except in 1992.
In 1992 at the Barcelona Games, famous players from the National Basketball Association (NBA) were allowed for the first time to represent the USA. This team, known as the “Dream Team” in the international media, was undoubtedly the best basketball team ever formed. It delighted the public and widely dominated the Olympic tournament in 1992.