History:Basketball, which dates back to the 1890s, made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport at the 1904 St Louis Games.
The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) was formally recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1935, paving the way for the sport to be included as a men's event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where the first gold medal was won by the US.
Women's basketball joined the Games in 1976 in Montreal where the gold was won by the Soviet Union. In 1989, Fiba voted to abolish the distinction between amateurs and professionals, enabling some of the world's best players to take part in the 1992 Barcelona Games. Classification games for fifth to 12th have been eliminated.
Events
Twelve teams will compete in the men's and the women's tournaments.
Men - China, Spain, Angola, United States, Argentina, Iran, Russia, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Australia.
Women - Australia, China, South Korea, Mali, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Latvia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Spain and the United States.
2004 Champions
Men: Argentina
Women: United States
Olympic programme (Finals) - Aug 23rd: Women's
Aug 24th: Men's
Venue
Beijing Olympic Basketball Stadium
Construction began: March 29th, 2005
Completed: Jan 14th, 2008
Capacity: 14,000 permanent (4,000 temporary)
