Basketball at the Summer Olympics
| Basketball at the Summer Olympics | |
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| Governing body | FIBA |
| Events | 2 (men: 1; women: 1) |
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Basketball at the Summer Olympics has been a sport for men consistently since 1936. Prior to its inclusion as a medal sport, basketball was held as a demonstration event in 1904. Women's basketball has been played in the Summer Olympics since its first appearance in 1976.
The United States is by far the most successful country in Olympic basketball, with United States men's teams having won 15 of 18 tournaments which they participated in, including seven successive titles from 1936 to 1968. United States women's teams have won 8 titles out of the 10 tournaments they competed in, including six in a row from 1996 to 2016. Argentina is the only nation that still exists, besides the United States, to have won either the Men's or Women's Tournament, with the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the Unified Team having also won the tournament.
Basketball was invented by Canadian James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891. Within a few decades, the new game became popular throughout the United States as an indoor sport. The popularity spread overseas and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) was organized in 1932 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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