Basketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics

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. 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 Olympics. The bronze was won by Cuba, the only Olympic medal they have won in basketball.[1] Another controversy was suspension of Mickey Coll after a positive drug test.

8th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Munich 1972
Tournament details
Olympics1972 Summer Olympics
Host nationWest Germany
CityMunich
DurationAugust 27 – September 9
Men's tournament
Teams16
Medals
Gold medalists  Soviet Union
Silver medalists United States
Bronze medalists  Cuba
Tournaments
 Mexico City 1968  Montreal 1976 

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.

AfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeOceaniaAutomatic qualifiers
 Egypt[a]
 Senegal
 Cuba
 Puerto Rico
 Japan
 Philippines
 Italy
 Czechoslovakia
 Poland
 Spain
 Australia United StatesGold medal in 1968
 YugoslaviaSilver medal in 1968
 Soviet UnionBronze 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:

  1. Head to head results
  2. 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

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts 1st Tie
 United States70542312+23014
 Cuba61560445+11513
 Brazil43561490+71111W–0L
 Czechoslovakia43493489+4110W–1L
 Spain34486500−14101W–0L
 Australia34523524−1100W–1L
 Japan16442643−2018
 Egypt07440644−2047
August 27
10:30
Cuba  10564  Egypt
August 27
14:30
Japan  55110  Brazil
August 27
20:00
Spain  7974  Australia
August 28
9:00
Brazil  11084  Egypt
August 28
14:30
United States  8155  Australia
August 28
16:00
Cuba  7453  Spain
August 28
20:00
Japan  6174  Czechoslovakia
August 29
9:00
Brazil  7269  Spain
August 29
14:30
Japan  7873  Egypt
August 29
20:00
Czechoslovakia  6968  Australia
August 29
21:30
United States  6748  Cuba
August 30
10:30
Egypt  5872  Spain
August 30
14:30
Japan  7692  Australia
August 30
16:00
Czechoslovakia  6577  Cuba
August 30
21:30
Brazil  5461  United States
September 1
21:30
Japan  7687  Spain
September 1
21:30
Australia  7084  Cuba
September 1
21:30
Egypt  3196  United States
September 1
21:30
Czechoslovakia  8283  Brazil
September 2
9:00
Australia  7569  Brazil
September 2
12:00
Egypt  6494  Czechoslovakia
September 2
14:30
Japan  63108  Cuba
September 2
18:30
Spain  5672  United States
September 3
9:00
Japan  3399  United States
September 3
10:30
Spain  7074  Czechoslovakia
September 3
18:30
Australia  8966  Egypt
September 3
21:30
Cuba  6463  Brazil

Group B

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts 1st Tie 2nd Tie
 Soviet Union70639479+16014
 Italy52547471+76121W–1L1.072
 Yugoslavia52582484+98121W–1L1.013
 Puerto Rico52570531+39121W–1L0.917
 West Germany34482518−3610
 Poland25520536−169
 Philippines16526666−1408
 Senegal07405586−1817
August 27
9:00
Poland  9075  Philippines
August 27
16:00
Yugoslavia  8578  Italy
August 27
18:30
Senegal  5294  Soviet Union
August 27
21:30
West Germany  7481  Puerto Rico
August 28
12:00
West Germany  6387  Soviet Union
August 28
16:30
Senegal  5692  Italy
August 28
18:30
Puerto Rico  9272  Philippines
August 28
21:30
Poland  6485  Yugoslavia
August 29
10:30
Senegal  5995  Poland
August 29
12:00
Soviet Union  7966  Italy
August 29
16:00
Puerto Rico  7974  Yugoslavia
August 29
18:30
West Germany  9374  Philippines
August 30
9:00
Soviet Union  9464  Poland
August 30
12:00
West Germany  5768  Italy
August 30
18:30
Philippines  76117  Yugoslavia
August 30
20:00
Puerto Rico  9257  Senegal
September 1
9:00
Senegal  6268  Philippines
September 1
12:00
West Germany  5681  Yugoslavia
September 1
20:00
Italy  7159  Poland
September 1
21:30
Soviet Union  10087  Puerto Rico
September 2
12:00
SFR Yugoslavia  7357  Senegal
September 2
14:30
West Germany  6765  Poland
September 2
16:00
Philippines  80111  Soviet Union
September 2
20:00
Italy  7154  Puerto Rico
September 3
12:00
Italy  10181  Philippines
September 3
14:30
Poland  8385  Puerto Rico
September 3
16:00
SFR Yugoslavia  6774  Soviet Union
September 3
20:00
West Germany  7262  Senegal

Knockout stage

Medal bracket

  Semifinals (September 7)[2]     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

Classification brackets

5th–8th place

  Semifinals (September 7[2])     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

9th–12th place

  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

13th–16th place

  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
  • a Forfeited match.

Final

September 9
23:30
Soviet Union  5150  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
Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, Munich
Referees: Renato Righetto (Brazil), Artenik Arabadjian (Bulgaria)

Awards

1972 Olympic Basketball Champions

Soviet Union
First title

Final standings

RankTeamPldWL
 Soviet Union990
 United States981
 Cuba972
4th Italy954
5th Yugoslavia972
6th Puerto Rico963
7th Brazil954
8th Czechoslovakia945
9th Australia954
10th Poland936
11th Spain945
12th West Germany936
13th Philippines826
14th Japan927
15th Senegal808
16th Egypt707

References

  • Official Report (PDF). 3: the competitions. Munich: Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXth Olympiad. 1973. pp. 418–437. OCLC 829366034. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  • FIBA Results Archive:

Citations

  1. https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_1710545
  2. "Forbes Leads U.S. Romp". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Associated Press. September 8, 1972. p. B4. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
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