Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics

International basketball tournament

Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball

Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics was the first appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic 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, but Hungary and Spain withdrew, meaning 21 competed.

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

The medals were awarded by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. The United States won its first gold medal, while Canada and Mexico won silver and bronze, their only medals in basketball, as of 2024.

Medalists

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, while losers competed in the first consolation round for another chance to move on.

Estonia  v  France

Turkey  v  Chile

Switzerland  v  Germany

Poland  v  Italy

Peru  v  Egypt

Latvia  v  Uruguay

Canada  v  Brazil

Japan  v  Republic of China

Belgium  v  Mexico

Byes: Philippines, United States  (drawn against Spain, who withdrew) and  Czechoslovakia (drawn against Hungary, who withdrew).

First consolation round

Winners returned to the main competition for the second round, while losers were eliminated.

• Uruguay 17–10 Belgium
• China 45–38 France
• Egypt 33–23 Turkey

Byes: Brazil, Germany and Poland

Second round

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

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

Second consolation round

• Poland def. Latvia, 28–23
• Brazil def. China, 32–14
• Mexico def. Egypt, 32–10
• Czechoslovakia def. Germany, 20–9

Bye: Estonia

Third round

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

Byes: United States and Peru

Quarterfinals

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

• United States 56–23 Philippines
• Mexico 24–17 Italy
• Canada 41–21 Uruguay

Bye: Poland (Peru withdrew from the Olympic Games to protest the decision of the Olympic Committee and FIFA in the football tournament).

Classification 5–8

Preliminary match

• Philippines 32–14 Italy

Bye: Uruguay (Peru withdrew from the competition - see above).

Fifth place match

• Philippines 33–23 Uruguay

Medals round

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Final

The final was played in driving rain, turning the court into a quagmire such that it was impossible to dribble, while the conditions kept scoring to a minimum: highest scorer in the game was Joe Fortenberry of the United States, with eight points. In addition, almost all of the nearly 1,000 in attendance had to stand in the rain throughout the final, as there were virtually no seats for spectators.

Awards

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; however, only seven were allowed to dress for competition at any one game.

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

•  Belgium (8 – from a squad of 14)
•  Brazil (8 – from a squad of 10)
•  Canada (9 – from a squad of 14)
•  Chile (7 – from a squad of 11)
•  Republic of China (13 – from a squad of 14)
•  Czechoslovakia (12 – from a squad of 12)
•  Egypt (7 – from a squad of 10)
•  Estonia (8 – from a squad of 11)
•  France (11 – from a squad of 14)
•  Germany (10 – from a squad of 14)
•  Italy (13 – from a squad of 14)
•  Japan (8 – from a squad of 11)
•  Latvia (7 – from a squad of 11)
•  Mexico (11 – from a squad of 11)
•  Peru (9 – from a squad of 13)
•  Philippines (9 – from a squad of 12)
•  Poland (10 – from a squad of 14)
•  Switzerland (8 – from a squad of 13)
•  Turkey (8 – from a squad of 10)
•  United States (14 – alternating squads of seven players)
•  Uruguay (9 – from a squad of 13)

Hungary and Spain withdrew before playing a match.

(*) 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

1. (in Italian) – Un viaggio all’interno di questi Ottanta anni Archived October 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. FIP.it.