Basketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics

8th Olympic Basketball Tournament
8th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Munich 1972
Tournament details
Olympics	1972 Summer Olympics
Host nation	West Germany
City	Munich
Duration	August 27 – September 9
Men's tournament
Teams	16
Medals
Gold medalists	Soviet Union
Silver medalists	United States
Bronze medalists	Cuba
Tournaments
← Mexico City 1968	Montreal 1976 →

Basketball contests at the 1972 Summer Olympics was the eighth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, Germany from August 27 to September 9. The Soviet Union controversially won the gold medal game against the United States.^[1]^[2] This was the first time that the USA did not win a gold medal since the sport's introduction into the Olympics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games. The bronze was won by Cuba, the only Olympic medal they have won in basketball.^[3] Another controversy was suspension of Mickey Coll after a positive drug test.

Medal summary

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's basketball	Soviet Union Anatoli Polivoda Modestas Paulauskas Zurab Sakandelidze Alzhan Zharmukhamedov Aleksandr Boloshev Ivan Edeshko Sergei Belov Mikheil Korkia Ivan Dvorny Gennadi Volnov Aleksandr Belov Sergei Kovalenko	United States Kenneth Davis Doug Collins Tom Henderson Mike Bantom Robert Jones Dwight Jones James Forbes Jim Brewer Tommy Burleson Tom McMillen Kevin Joyce Ed Ratleff	Cuba Juan Carlos Domecq Fortuondo Ruperto Herrera Tabio Juan Roca Brunet Pedro Chappe Garcia Miguel Álvarez Pozo Rafael Cañizares Poey Conrado Perez Armenteros Miguel Calderon Gomez Tomas Herrera Martinez Oscar Varona Varona Alejandro Urgelles Guibot Franklin Standard Johnson

Qualification

Automatic qualifications were granted to the host country and the first four places at the previous tournament. Additional spots were decided by various continental tournaments held by FIBA plus an additional pre-Olympic tournament that granted two extra berths.

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Automatic qualifiers
Egypt^[a] Senegal	Cuba Puerto Rico	Japan Philippines	Italy Czechoslovakia Poland Spain	Australia	United States – Gold medal in 1968 Yugoslavia – Silver medal in 1968 Soviet Union – Bronze medal in 1968 Brazil – 4th place in 1968 West Germany – Olympic hosts

^a Egypt withdrew from the tournament following the events of the Munich massacre.

Format

Two groups of eight teams are formed, where the top two from each group compete for the medals in a knockout round.
The remaining places are defined as follows:
- Fifth through eighth places are decided in a separate bracket between the third and fourth places from each group in a separate bracket.
- Ninth through sixteenth places are decided between the fifth through eighth places from each group in separate brackets.

Tie-breaking criteria:

Head to head results
Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams

Squads

For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters.

Preliminary round

The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals, while the remaining teams compete for 5th through 16th places in separate brackets.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	7	7	0	542	312	+230	14	Semifinals
2	Cuba	7	6	1	560	445	+115	13	Semifinals
3	Brazil	7	4	3	561	490	+71	11^[a]	5th–8th classification round
4	Czechoslovakia	7	4	3	493	489	+4	11^[a]	5th–8th classification round
5	Spain	7	3	4	486	500	−14	10^[b]	9th–12th classification round
6	Australia	7	3	4	523	524	−1	10^[b]	9th–12th classification round
7	Japan	7	1	6	442	643	−201	8	13th–16th classification round
8	Egypt	7	0	7	440	644	−204	7	13th–16th 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.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Brazil 1–0 Czechoslovakia
^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Spain 1–0 Australia

August 27
10:30

Cuba

105–64

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Soviet Union	7	7	0	639	479	+160	14	Semifinals
2	Italy	7	5	2	547	471	+76	12^[a]	Semifinals
3	Yugoslavia	7	5	2	582	484	+98	12^[a]	5th–8th classification round
4	Puerto Rico	7	5	2	570	531	+39	12^[a]	5th–8th classification round
5	West Germany (H)	7	3	4	482	518	−36	10	9th–12th classification round
6	Poland	7	2	5	520	536	−16	9	9th–12th classification round
7	Philippines	7	1	6	526	666	−140	8	13th–16th classification round
8	Senegal	7	0	7	405	586	−181	7	13th–16th classification round

Semifinals (September 7)^[4]			Gold medal (September 9)

A1	United States	68

B2	Italy	38
			A1	United States	50

			B1	Soviet Union	51
B1	Soviet Union	67

A2	Cuba	61	Bronze medal (September 8)


			B2	Italy	65

			A2	Cuba	66

Semifinals (September 7^[4])			5th place (September 9)

A3	Brazil	83

B4	Puerto Rico	87
			B4	Puerto Rico	70

			B3	Yugoslavia	86
B3	Yugoslavia	66

A4	Czechoslovakia	63	7th place (September 8)


			A3	Brazil	87

			A4	Czechoslovakia	69

Semifinals (September 5)			9th place (September 9)

A5	Spain	76

B6	Poland	87
			B6	Poland	83

			A6	Australia	91
B5	West Germany	69

A6	Australia	70	11th place (September 8)


			A5	Spain	84

			B5	West Germany	83

Semifinals (September 5)			13th place (September 7)

A7	Japan	70

B8	Senegal	67
			A7	Japan	73

			B7	Philippines	82
B7	Philippines	2

A8	Egypt	0^[a]	15th place


			B8	Egypt	0^[a]

			A8	Senegal	2

Soviet Union	51–50	United States
Scoring by half: 26–21, 25–29
Pts: Sergey Belov 20 Rebs: Alexander Belov 8		Pts: Tom Henderson, Jim Brewer 9 each Rebs: Mike Bantom 9

Basketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Medal summary

Qualification

Format

Squads

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Medal bracket

Classification brackets

Final

Awards

Final standings

References

Citations

External links