Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics was the third appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. 23 nations entered the competition.
| 3rd Olympic Basketball Tournament | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helsinki 1952 | |||||||||
| Tournament details | |||||||||
| Olympics | 1952 Summer Olympics | ||||||||
| Host nation | Finland | ||||||||
| City | Helsinki | ||||||||
| Duration | July 13 – August 2 | ||||||||
| Men's tournament | |||||||||
| Teams | 23 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Tournaments | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament | |
| men | |
| Squads | |
| men | |
The top six teams at the 1948 Summer Olympics qualified automatically, as did the winners of the 1950 FIBA World Championship (Argentina), the top two teams at the 1951 EuroBasket (USSR and Czechoslovakia), and the host country (Finland). Thirteen other nations competed in a preliminary round to determine the last six places in the sixteen-team Olympic tournament.
Medalists
Results
Preliminary round
Nations that lost two games in the preliminary tournaments were eliminated. When there were only two teams left in each group, those teams advanced to the main tournament.
Group A
First Round
- Cuba def. Belgium, 59–51
- Bulgaria def. Switzerland, 69–58
Second Round
Bulgaria's victory earned it a berth in the main tournament, while Switzerland's second loss eliminated them.
- Bulgaria def. Cuba, 62–56
- Belgium def. Switzerland, 59–49
Final Round
The two teams that were 1–1 played each other: the winner received a tournament berth and the loser was eliminated.
- Cuba def. Belgium, 71–63
Group B
First round
- Hungary def. Greece, 75–38
- Philippines def. Israel, 57–47
Second round
The Philippines qualified for the main tournament, while Israel's second loss eliminated them.
- Philippines def. Hungary, 48–35
- Greece def. Israel, 54–52
Final round
The two teams that were 1–1 played each, with the winner receiving a tournament berth and the loser being eliminated.
- Hungary def. Greece, 47–44
Group C
First round
- Canada def. Italy, 68–57
- Egypt def. Turkey, 64–45
Bye: Romania
Second round
Romania's first game was a loss to Canada. Italy and Turkey played each other, with Turkey's second loss eliminating them.
- Canada def. Romania, 72–51
- Italy def. Turkey, 49–37
Bye: Egypt
Third round
Italy and Romania, who had both lost once, played each other. Romania's second loss eliminated them, while Canada and Egypt played each other, with Egypt being served its first loss; Canada qualified.
- Italy def. Romania, 53–39
- Canada def. Egypt, 63–57
Final round
Italy played its fourth game of the tournament against Egypt. The closely contested decisive game ended with Egypt qualifying for the main competition and Italy being eliminated.
- Egypt def. Italy, 66–62
Main tournament
First round
The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 3 | 0 | 195 | 139 | +56 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 |  |
3 | 2 | 1 | 167 | 164 | +3 | 5 | |
| 3 |  |
3 | 1 | 2 | 161 | 164 | −3 | 4 | |
| 4 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 0 | 3 | 143 | 199 | −56 | 3 |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 3 | 0 | 192 | 143 | +49 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 2 | 1 | 163 | 182 | −19 | 5 | |
| 3 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 1 | 2 | 172 | 171 | +1 | 4 | |
| 4 |  |
3 | 0 | 3 | 147 | 178 | −31 | 3 |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
3 | 3 | 0 | 239 | 196 | +43 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 2 | 1 | 184 | 179 | +5 | 5 | |
| 3 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 1 | 2 | 192 | 221 | −29 | 4 | |
| 4 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 0 | 3 | 201 | 220 | −19 | 3 |
.svg.png){kind=small}
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
3 | 3 | 0 | 202 | 149 | +53 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 |  |
3 | 2 | 1 | 170 | 150 | +20 | 5 | |
| 3 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3 | 1 | 2 | 176 | 221 | −45 | 4 | |
| 4 |  |
3 | 0 | 3 | 149 | 177 | −28 | 3 |
Quarterfinals
The top two teams in each quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals. The other two teams in each quarterfinals played in the fifth through eighth place classification.
Quarterfinals group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
3 | 2 | 1 | 194 | 187 | +7 | 5[lower-alpha 1] | Qualified for the semifinals |
| 2 | |
3 | 2 | 1 | 226 | 174 | +52 | 5[lower-alpha 1] | |
| 3 | |
3 | 1 | 2 | 177 | 220 | −43 | 4[lower-alpha 2] | Qualified for 5th–8th placement playoffs |
| 4 | |
3 | 1 | 2 | 178 | 194 | −16 | 4[lower-alpha 2] |
Notes:
- Uruguay–Argentina: 66–65
- Bulgaria–France: 67–58
Quarterfinals group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
3 | 3 | 0 | 246 | 166 | +80 | 6 | Qualified for the semifinals |
| 2 | |
3 | 2 | 1 | 190 | 195 | −5 | 5 | |
| 3 | |
3 | 1 | 2 | 177 | 155 | +22 | 4 | Qualified for 5th–8th placement playoffs |
| 4 | |
3 | 0 | 3 | 159 | 256 | −97 | 3 |
Knockout rounds
Brackets
| 5th-8th place semifinals | 5th place game | |||||
| 60 | |||||
 | 53 | |||||
| 58 | |||||
 | 49 | |||||
| 59 | |||||
| 44 | |||||
| 7th place game | ||||||
| 58 | |||||
| 44 | |||||
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| July 31 | ||||||
| 61 | |||||
| August 2 | ||||||
| 57 | |||||
| 36 | |||||
| August 1 | ||||||
| 25 | |||||
| 85 | |||||
| 76 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| August 2 | ||||||
| 68 | |||||
| 59 | |||||
Semifinals
- Classification 5–8 semifinals
31 July 1952 09:00 |
OR p. 686 |
| Chile |
60–53 | |
| Scoring by half: 37–29, 23–24 | ||
| Pts: Badrie 22 | Pts: Panov 13 | |
- Medal round semifinals
Finals
- 7th place final
1 August 1952 09:00 |
OR p. 688 |
| Bulgaria |
58–44 | |
| Scoring by half: 22–22, 36–24 | ||
| Pts: Panov 12 | Pts: Vacheresse 9 | |
- 5th place final
2 August 1952 09:00 |
OR p. 688 |
| Chile |
58–49 | |
| Scoring by half: 32–24, 26–25 | ||
| Pts: Cordero Fernández 14 | Pts: Da Motta 16 | |
- Bronze medal game
1 August 1952 16:00 |
OR p. 688 |
| Uruguay |
68–59 | |
| Scoring by half: 31–24, 37–35 | ||
| Pts: Lombardo 23 | Pts: Gazsó 19 | |
- Gold medal game
2 August 1952 16:00 |
OR p. 688 |
United States  |
36–25 |  |
| Scoring by half: 17–15, 19–10 | ||
| Pts: Lovellette 9 | Pts: Korkia 8 | |
Awards
| 1952 Olympic Basketball Champions |
|---|
United States Third title |
Participating nations
For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters.
Each country was allowed to enter one team of 14 players and they all were eligible for participation. A total number of 317 players were entered.
A total of 301(*) basketball players from 23 nations competed at the Helsinki Games:
.svg.png)
.svg.png)
.svg.png)
(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least. Up to now only two reserve player can be named, 14 reserve players are unknown.
Team rosters
References
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics. |
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Greece Basketball at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
External links
| Tournaments |
| | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifications |
| |||||
| Squads |
| |||||
|
.svg.png){kind=small}