Basketball contests at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
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.
Another controversy was suspension of
Mickey Coll
Mickey Coll (12 February 1951, in San Juan, Puerto Rico – 23 December 1972, in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico) was a Puerto Rican basketball player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Doping controversy
Coll tested positive for amphetamine ...
after a positive drug test.
Medal summary
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.
* 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:
# Head to head results
#
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
Group B
Knockout stage
Medal bracket
Classification brackets
5th–8th place
9th–12th place
13th–16th place
* Forfeited match.
Final
Awards
Final standings
References
*
*
FIBA Results Archive:
**
**
**
Citations
External links
''ESPN Classic'' account of the gold medal game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olympics
basketball
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
1972 in basketball
International basketball competitions hosted by West Germany