Basketball at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Basketball contests at the 1968 Summer Olympics was the seventh appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, Mexico from October 13 to October 25, 1968. The United States defeated Yugoslavia to win their seventh straight gold medal in this sport, while the Soviet Union earned the bronze against Brazil.

7th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Mexico City 1968
Tournament details
Olympics1968 Summer Olympics
Host nationMexico
CityMexico City
DurationOctober 13–25, 1968
Men's tournament
Teams16
Medals
Gold medalists  United States
Silver medalists Yugoslavia
Bronze medalists  Soviet Union
Tournaments
← Tokyo 1964  Munich 1972 →
Basketball at the
1968 Summer Olympics
Tournament
men
Squads
men
Qualification
men

Medal summary
Gold: Silver: Bronze:
 United States (USA)
Mike Barrett
John Clawson
Don Dee
Calvin Fowler
Spencer Haywood
Bill Hosket
Jim King
Glynn Saulters
Mike Silliman
Ken Spain
Jo Jo White
Charlie Scott		  Yugoslavia (YUG)
Dragutin Čermak
Kresimir Ćosić
Vladimir Cvetković
Ivo Daneu
Radivoj Korać
Zoran Marojević
Nikola Plećaš
Trajko Rajković
Dragoslav Ražnatović
Petar Skansi
Damir Šolman
Aljoša Žorga		  Soviet Union (URS)
Anatoli Krikun
Modestas Paulauskas
Zurab Sakandelidze
Vadim Kapranov
Yuri Selikhov
Anatoli Polivoda
Sergei Belov
Priit Tomson
Sergei Kovalenko
Gennadi Volnov
Jaak Lipso
Vladimir Andreev

Qualification

Automatic qualifications were granted to the host country and the first five places at the previous tournament. Additional spots were decided by various continental tournaments held by FIBA plus two additional intercontinental tournaments that granted two extra berths each.

AfricaAmericasAsiaEuropeAutomatic qualifiers
 Senegal
 Morocco		 Panama
 Cuba		 Philippines
 South Korea		 SFR Yugoslavia
 Bulgaria
 Spain
 Poland		 United States – Gold medal in 1964
 Soviet Union – Silver medal in 1964
 Brazil – Bronze medal in 1964
 Puerto Rico – 4th place in 1964
 Italy – 5th place in 1964
 Mexico – Olympic hosts

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.

Squads

For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1968 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. Both group leaders, the United States and the Soviet Union advanced undefeated to the knockout stage.

Group A
Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts
 United States70599392+20714
 SFR Yugoslavia61592511+8113
 Italy52562539+2312
 Spain43557548+911
 Puerto Rico34493468+2510
 Panama25572624−529
 Philippines16525636−1118
 Senegal07383565−1827

October 13

SFR Yugoslavia  96–85  Panama

October 14

Puerto Rico  72–93  SFR Yugoslavia

October 15

Senegal  65–84  SFR Yugoslavia

October 16

United States  73–58  SFR Yugoslavia

October 18

Italy  69–80  SFR Yugoslavia

October 19

SFR Yugoslavia  92–79  Spain

October 20

SFR Yugoslavia  89–68  Philippines

Group B
Qualified for the semifinals
Team W L PF PA PD Pts
 Soviet Union70642408+23414
 Brazil61561418+14313
 Mexico52493443+5012
 Poland43473504−3111
 Bulgaria34456478−2210
 Cuba25514532−189
 South Korea16453530−778
 Morocco07355634−2797

October 13

October 14

October 15

October 16

October 18

October 19

October 20

Knockout stage

The much anticipated final between The United States and the USSR would have to wait four years. Yugoslavia stunned the Soviets 63-62 in the semifinals. In the championship game the Americans had a slim 32-29 lead at intermission but put the game out of reach with a 22-3 steak to start the second half.

Medal bracket
  Semifinals (October 22)[1]     Gold medal (October 25)
                 
  A1  United States 75  
  B2  Brazil 63    
      A1  United States 65
      A2  SFR Yugoslavia 50
  B1  Soviet Union 62    
  A2  SFR Yugoslavia 63   Bronze medal (October 25)
 
B2  Brazil 53
  B1  Soviet Union 70

Classification brackets

5th–8th Place

  Semifinals (October 22)     5th place (October 25)
                 
  A3  Italy 52  
  B4  Poland 66    
      B3  Poland 65
      B4  Mexico 75
  B3  Mexico 73    
  A4  Spain 72   7th place (October 25)
 
A3  Italy 72
  A4  Spain 88

9th–12th Place

  Semifinals (October 23)     9th place (October 24)
                 
  A5  Puerto Rico 71  
  B6  Cuba 65    
      A5  Puerto Rico 67
      B5  Bulgaria 57
  B5  Bulgaria 83    
  A6  Panama 79   11th place (October 24)
 
A6  Cuba 91
  B6  Panama 88

13th–16th Place

  Semifinals (October 23)     13th place (October 24)
                 
  A7  Philippines 86  
  B8  Morocco 57    
      A7  Philippines 66
      B7  South Korea 63
  B7  South Korea 76    
  A8  Senegal 59   15th place (October 24)
 
B8  Morocco 38
  A8  Senegal 42

Awards
1968 Olympic Basketball Champions

United States
Seventh title

Final standings
RankTeamPldWL
 United States990
 SFR Yugoslavia972
 Soviet Union981
4th Brazil963
5th Mexico972
6th Poland954
7th Spain945
8th Italy954
9th Puerto Rico954
10th Bulgaria945
11th Cuba936
12th Panama927
13th Philippines936
14th South Korea927
15th Senegal918
16th Morocco909
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References
  1. 1968 Semifinals – Ref: El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish)
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