Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics was the first appearance of the sport as an official medal event. The tournament was played between 7 August and 14 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. 23 nations entered the competition, making basketball the largest tournament of the team sports.

The International Basketball Federation, which is the governing body of international basketball, used the 1936 tournament to experiment with outdoor basketball. Lawn tennis courts were used for the competition. This caused problems when the weather was adverse, especially during the final game.

The medals were awarded by James Naismith, founder of basketball. All went to North American teams.

Medallists

Note: The International Olympic Committee medal database shows only these players as medalists. They all played at least one match during the tournament. The reserve players are not listed as medalists.

Results

Brackets

Third round onwards

Fifth-place classification

First round

Winners advanced to the second round. Losers competed in the first consolation round for another chance to move on.

• Estonia def. France, 34-29
• Chile def. Turkey, 30-16
• Switzerland def. Germany, 25-18
• Italy def. Poland, 44-28
• Peru def. Egypt, 35-22
• Latvia def. Uruguay, 20-17
• Brazil def. Canada, 24-17
• Japan def. China, 35-19
• Mexico def. Belgium, 32-9
• United States def. Spain, forfeit
• Czechoslovakia def. Hungary, forfeit
• Philippines, BYE

First consolation round

Winners returned to the main competition for the second round. Losers were out of the tournament.

• Uruguay def. Belgium, 17-10
• China def. France, 45-38
• Egypt def. Turkey, 33-23
• Canada def. Hungary, forfeit
• Germany def. Spain, forfeit
• Poland, BYE

Second round

Winners advanced to the third round. Losers competed in the second consolation round for another chance to move on.

• Philippines def. Mexico, 32-30
• Japan def. Poland, 43-31
• Uruguay def. Egypt, 36-23
• Peru def. China, 29-21
• United States def. Estonia, 52-28
• Italy def. Germany, 58-16
• Switzerland def. Czechoslovakia, 25-12
• Chile def. Brazil, 23-18
• Canada def. Latvia, 34-23

Second consolation round

• Poland def. Latvia, 28-23
• Brazil def. China, 32-14
• Mexico def. Egypt, 32-10
• Czechoslovakia def. Germany, 20-0
• Estonia, BYE

Third round

The third round was the first to cause automatic elimination for losers, with no consolation round. Winners advanced to the fourth round.

• Philippines def. Estonia, 39-22
• Italy def. Chile, 27-19
• Mexico def. Japan, 28-22
• Canada def. Switzerland, 27-9
• Uruguay def. Czechoslovakia, 28-19
• Poland def. Brazil, 33-25
• United States, BYE
• Peru, BYE

Fourth round

Winners of the fourth round advanced to the medals round, with losers playing in classification matches.

• United States def. Philippines, 56-23
• Mexico def. Italy, 34-17
• Canada def. Uruguay, 41-21
• Poland def. Peru, forfeit

The National Olympic Team from Peru abandoned the Olympic games in protest to the actions of German authorities in the football tournament.

Classification 5-8

Preliminary matches

• Philippines def. Italy, 32-14
• Uruguay def. Peru, forfeit

Peru forfeit: See above.

Fifth place match

• Philippines def. Uruguay, 33-23

Medals round

Semifinals

• United States def. Mexico, 25-10
• Canada def. Poland, 42-15

Bronze medal match

• Mexico def. Poland, 26-12

Final

The finals were played 14 August under abysmal conditions. The contest was played outdoors, on a dirt court in a driving rain. Due to the quagmire, the teams could not dribble and the score was held to a minimum. High scorer in the game was Joe Fortenberry for the United States with 7 points. In addition, there were no seats for spectators and the nearly 1,000 in attendance had to stand in the rain throughout the entire game.

• United States def. Canada, 19-8

Participating nations

For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics - Men's team squads.

Each country was allowed to enter one team of 14 players and they all were eligible for participation.

A total of 199(*) basketball players from 21 nations competed at the Berlin Games:

(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least.

Not all reserve players are known.

Summary

Note: Hungary and Spain withdrew before competition started

References

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