The United States men's national wheelchair basketball team began in 1955 when the Pam Am Jets brought wheelchair basketball to Europe at the
International Stoke Mandville Games
The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games (or IWAS World Games) are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability, which were the forerunner of the Paralympic Games. The competition has been formerly known as t ...
, albeit in the form of netball. Shortly following the Pan Am Jets' dominating performance at the International Stoke Mandville Games, wheelchair netball was switched to wheelchair basketball for all future Games.
History
In 1960 the inaugural
Rome Paralympic Games included wheelchair basketball as one of its initial events. During this inaugural 1960 Paralympic Games the wheelchair basketball competition was divided into two constructs: Class A for athletes with complete lesions, and Class B for those with incomplete lesions. With the 1960 Paralympic Games, the United States Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team competed in both classifications, winning two gold medals. The same occurred in the following 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games, as the United States Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team claimed both gold medals.
The success of the United States Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team has continued since those initial Paralympic Games, although the team had not won gold medals since 1988 and finally ended that drought in the most recent tournament in 2016.
The United States Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team also competes internationally in the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation's (IWBF) World Wheelchair Basketball Championships, the Parapan American Games, and the IWBF's U23 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships. The United States Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team has enjoyed great success in each of these tournaments in addition to the Paralympic Games. They are the only team to have won the IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in three successive tournaments (accomplishing that feat twice; 1979-1986 & 1994-2002) and medalling in nearly every tournament held of the Parapan American Games, as well as the IWBF’s U23 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships.
Roster
Paralympic Games
Results achieved at the Paralympic Games:
*
1960:
Gold (2)
*
1964:
Gold (2)
*
1968:
Silver
*
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 ...
:
Gold
*
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
:
Gold
*
1980:
Bronze
*
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
: 4th
*
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
:
Gold
*
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
:
Gold
*
1996:
Bronze
*
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
:
Bronze
*
2004: 7th
*
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
: 4th
*
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
:
Bronze
*
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
:
Gold
*
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
:
Gold
IWBF World Championships
Other international tournaments
Parapan American Games
Men's U23 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships
See also
*
Wheelchair basketball in the United States
References
{{National sports teams of the United States
Wheelchair basketball in the United States
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
National men's wheelchair basketball teams