Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 28th of August 2004, Argentina defeated Italy 84-69 in Athens to claim the gold medal in men's basketball at the Summer Olympics. It was the first Olympic basketball gold in Argentine history. It was also the first time a Latin and Hispanic nation had ever won men's basketball gold at the Olympics. How did a tournament that began at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena and Olympic Indoor Hall on the 15th of August turn into one of the most stunning competitions the sport had seen? The questions worth following through this story are about a United States team brought low, an Argentine roster that refused to be stopped, and a tournament format that squeezed twelve nations into twelve days of elimination basketball.

• 2. The United States Falls

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  The United States men's team entered Athens facing a format that offered almost no margin for error: twelve nations split into two groups of six, with only the top four from each group advancing to the knockout rounds. In the quarterfinals, Spain had gone through the preliminary round undefeated, yet fell to the United States. Spanish head coach Mario Pesquera watched his side lose despite finishing 3-2 against the Americans in group play, a result that left his bench in visible frustration. Argentina, meanwhile, handled the host Greek squad in the quarterfinals; Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto each contributed 13 points, while Greece's top scorer Nikos Chatzivrettas could manage only 12. The semifinal brought the United States and Argentina together, and it ended with the Americans absorbing their third loss of the tournament. That figure carried historical weight: it was the most losses ever suffered by the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team in a single Games. The defeat also marked the first time since the 1988 Olympics that a U.S. team had failed to claim the gold medal. The United States would not lose three games in a major tournament again until the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

• 3. Argentina's Gold

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  Manu Ginobili was named the tournament MVP, finishing with an average of 19.3 points per game over the course of the competition. His Argentina squad, coached by Ruben Magnano, carried a roster that included Luis Scola, who averaged 17.6 points per game, along with guards Pepe Sanchez and Alejandro Montecchia. Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni filled out the forward rotation. In the gold medal game against Italy, the final margin was 15 points, a result that settled what had been a suspenseful bracket run. Italy, coached by Carlo Recalcati, reached the final on the strength of players including Gianluca Basile, who had averaged 14.6 points per game and ranked among the tournament's top ten scorers. Argentina's victory gave the nation its first ever Olympic gold medal in basketball and placed the country in the record books as the first Latin and Hispanic nation to win the event.

• 4. The Broader Field

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  Pau Gasol of Spain led all scorers in the tournament, averaging 22.4 points per game, ahead of Phill Jones at 21.0 and Yao Ming of China at 20.7. Yao also led in rebounding at 9.3 per game and set the individual game high for points with a 39-point effort. Tim Duncan produced the tournament's single-game rebounding record with 16 boards and also shared the steals game high, recording 5 in one contest alongside Greece's Theodoros Papaloukas. Lithuania's Sarunas Jasikevicuis led the tournament in assists, averaging 5.6 per game, and shared the single-game turnover record of 7 with Duncan. Theodoros Papaloukas of Greece led all players in steals per game at 2.8. Australia's Andrew Bogut, who averaged 9.0 rebounds per game, and New Zealand's Mark Dickel, who averaged 4.5 assists, also appeared in the top ten of their respective categories. The bronze medal game saw the United States avenge a preliminary-round defeat to Lithuania, claiming its first bronze since 1988. Spain, despite that quarterfinal exit, finished fifth after a full seven-game schedule.