How long has basketball been an olympic sport

History, top teams and all you need to know

Basketball was invented in the United States of America in 1891. But it didn’t take too long for the sport to become popular. Today, it’s one of the most-watched sports in the world.

Its rise can be traced back to its roots in a gym class in Springfield, Massachusetts, making its way into high school and colleges before evolving into a professional sport it is today. Eventually, it made its way to the sport’s grandest events.

When did basketball start in the Olympics?

Basketball was introduced in the Olympic programme at the 1904 Games in St Louis as a demonstration event. Basketball was first contested as a medal event at the 1936 Olympics. Women’s basketball, meanwhile, made its debut at the Montreal 1976 Games.

3x3 basketball made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

Who qualifies for Olympic basketball?

A total of 12 teams, each in the men’s and the women’s competition, qualify for the basketball event at the Olympic Games.

While seven teams can gain entry through the FIBA World Cup, four slots are determined through the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament. The last remaining slot is reserved for the hosts.

Which country has won the most Olympic gold medals in basketball?

The United States of America is the most successful team in the history of Olympics basketball.

The USA Olympic men’s basketball team has won the gold medal a record 16 times, which includes an unbeaten streak from 1936 to 1968.

The USA women’s basketball team, meanwhile, has pocketed the gold medal on nine occasions. This includes an unbeaten run that’s still in place and dates back to Atlanta 1996.

USA dominates Olympic basketball

Having invented the sport in the late 1800s, it was no surprise that the USA dominated basketball once it was included as a medal event at the 1936 Olympics.

With the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) playing a key role in spreading the sport to various nations, as many as 21 teams competed for the top honours at the Berlin 1936 Games.

But none could stand in the USA’s way as they romped home to emphatic wins in each of their matches to take home the gold.

The coming years saw the Americans grow stronger as they retained the Olympic title in commanding fashion. With no losses throughout their campaigns, their wins in the gold medal matches were most startling.

The USA basketball team beat France 65-21 in the final of the 1948 Games. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, lost to the Americans in the following four editions -- 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 -- with the champions recording dominating wins to retain their crown.

This period also saw the rise of the Soviet Union as a force in the international basketball scene.

The Soviets had made their presence felt at the continental stage by winning the biennial European Basketball Championships 10 times from 1951 to 1971 and the FIBA World Championships in 1972.

And when the 1972 Munich Olympics came around, their sole focus was to capture the only title missing from their cabinet -- an Olympic gold in basketball.

USA gets a shock at Munich Olympics

Coming into the Munich Olympics, the Americans were once again favourites to retain their title. But a look at their build-up suggested otherwise.

They had lost out to the Soviets in the final of the 1970 World University Games and bowed out of the 1971 Pan American Games without a medal.

What really hurt them in this phase was the lack of international experience in the squad. With the Olympic competition being restricted to amateurs, the best hoopsters in America were kept out of the Olympic team -- as they turned pro by joining the NBA -- while the top collegiate talent made up the squad.

Though this worked for the USA in the previous editions, this time the Soviets had found a way to exploit the American limitation by listing their players as soldiers or workers, which allowed them to breach the amateur rules.

This meant while the USA had high school sophomore Doug Collins and the North Carolina State University rookie Tommy Burleson as their best players, the Soviets rode on the brilliance of experienced stars Sergei Belov, Modestas Paulauskas and Alexander Belov.

However, it wasn’t until the gold medal game that the lack of experience came to haunt the USA.

Having come into the gold medal match without losing a game, the final was expected to be a close contest. But the Soviets had a different plan.

The USA lost to the Soviet Union in the final of the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Picture by Getty Images

The Soviet Union basketball team controlled the proceedings with smart ball play, often using the length of the court to stretch the American defence to score points at will. The Soviets scored first and led by the healthy margin of 26-21 at the half.

“We particularly struggled against the Russians because they were adept at controlling the tempo,” Mike Bantom, a member of the ’72 team, now senior vice president for NBA player development, told the New York Times.

While the Americans mounted a comeback in the second period it wasn’t until the final six minutes that they had their opponents in trouble.

Trailing by eight points, the Americans put pressure and saw the Soviets stumble, helping them reduce the gap to just a point with six seconds left on the clock.

Down to the wire for the gold medal, Doug Collins - the pillar of his team - was not done yet as he made a fine open-court steal and drove towards the paint before being knocked down.

The foul meant the Americans were awarded two free throws to seal the match. While Collins sank them both to put his side ahead, the Soviets called for a time-out.

The game resumed with a second left, and when that went by, the United States players started celebrating. But the drama was not over yet.

Moments later, the FIBA president was seen on court asking for a redo of the final three seconds due to a refereeing error.

This time though, the Soviets ensured that they made the most of the opportunity as Alexander Belov pulled out a buzzer-beater to subject the USA to their first loss at the Olympic stage.

Though the Americans appealed against the final decision, it was turned down as the Soviet Union won their maiden basketball Olympic crown.

The Dream Team

The coming years also saw a number of countries making the most of the loopholes in the amateur player rule to field top talents at the Olympics.

However, this changed in 1992 after FIBA ruled to include professionals for the Barcelona Olympics.

This allowed the USA to select what was later dubbed as the greatest sports team ever assembled.

The team featured the likes of NBA superstars Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone among others.

The Dream Team, coached by Chuck Daly, a two-time NBA champion, had a pre-competition camp in Monaco and then moved into a luxury hotel in Barcelona, where they stayed during the Games.

The Dream Team dominated the Olympic competition, sailing through to win the gold medal. They were the first team to score 100 points in every match at the Games, something that led to their head coach commenting: “It was like Elvis and the Beatles put together. ”

However, it’s the legacy that the team left behind that had a lasting impact on the popularity that basketball enjoys today.

Following Barcelona 1992, foreign recruits have been a major draw in the NBA with Yao Ming and Andrea Bargnani being the number one draft picks in (2002) and (2006) respectively. Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki and Giannis Antetokounmpo have won the NBA MVP award since.

Olympic basketball winners: Men's

Women’s basketball at the Olympics

While the men’s game has enjoyed a storied history under the Olympic banner, women’s basketball has a similarly rich vein of tales to tap into.

The USA is the most successful team in women's Olympic basketball with eight titles.

Making its debut at the 1976 Games in Montreal, women’s basketball has been a constant presence at the Olympics ever since.

The Soviet Union was the first to claim the Olympic title in the women’s category by beating the United States in the final at the 1976 Games. While the Soviets retained their crown at their home Games in 1980, the Americans took the gold medals in the following two Games.

In 1992, a Unified Team consisting of the former Soviet Republics beat China for the title.

The Americans, however, returned to regain their crown at Atlanta 1996 and have won the title at every edition since.

Olympic basketball winners: Women's

How Long Has Basketball Been Around For?

Basketball is one of the most popular sports, played by 450 million people all over the world and 26 million in America alone. In fact, it is the most played team sport in the United States. With its unparalleled popularity, it’s only fair to ask “How long has basketball been around for?” To answer that question, we need to go back to basketball’s roots– back to the Springfield gym in Massachusetts where it all started. 

Basketball began in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, when it was invented by a Canadian physical education instructor by the name of James Naismith. Naismith also happens to be a physician, and got his medical degree seven years after he invented the game of basketball. The basketball game became established and grew very popular as the 20th century went forward.

Obviously, the game originated in America and was brought to the other parts of the world. As basketball became a draw in American colleges, the professional game followed. The National Basketball Association (NBA) was founded in 1946 and grew to be a multibillion-dollar business by the end of the century. Basketball became a fundamental part of American culture.

The fateful day was Dec. 21, 1891. Naismith thought of a game to keep his students fit in the winter, and that can be played indoors. Hence, he thought of shooting a soccer ball on peach baskets, which was later known as basketball.

It is a team sport, most commonly five players each that rivals one another, which is the primary objective of shooting a basketball on a rectangular court.

Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith, an instructor, and professor of physical education at the Young Men’s Christian Association Training School (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts. He tries to keep his gym class busy during the rainy season, a time where they could not go out and play soccer. He looked for indoor games to maintain his student’s interest and the right levels of fitness.

Dr. James Naismith invented the basketball game that was directed by his superintendent to create a game to engage the students. His superior pushed Naismith to develop new ideas from other sports like rugby, soccer, and football for him to keep his job.

That was the moment he created the game of basketball. 

First, the game was played consisting of 18 players, the exact number of students in his class. He split them into two teams and used a soccer ball and a peach basket as a goal. Initially, there was no dribbling or running with the ball, and the courts were pretty small, too.

There are 11 golden rules to follow in the basketball game, as Dr. Naismith outlined:

1. The ball must pass in any control with your hands.

2. The ball may hit in any direction with hands, not your fists.

3. The player may not run with the ball and must stop immediately after running and catching the ball.

4. The ball must be carried with hands and no other body part.

5. The first offense is a foul second player disqualified until the team scores and no hitting and pushing.

6. A score was made when the ball stayed in the basket. Not allowed to disturb the basket or it counts.

7. Three successive fouls count as a goal for the opposing team.

8. The player has only 5 seconds to inbound the ball into the court if it exceeds its a turnover.

9. Thirty minutes in a full game with two halves. Five minutes rest in between

10. the teams would have most goals is the winner

11. the referee decides all calls.

The National Basketball League (NBA) was founded in the United States in 1949, a professional basketball league created by two rival organizations, the National Basketball League (NBL), founded in 1937, and the Basketball Association of America (BAA), founded 1946.

The NBA holds four teams from the American Basketball Association (ABA), which unfortunately folded that year.

In the following years, the 1980s, the NBA was troubled by money-drop franchises, low presence, reduced television ratings, and restricted national interest. After almost a decade, ABA merged with the NBA and brought over 4 of their most successful franchises that afford to compete with the big leagues and salary cap. Teams consist of the San Antonio Spurs, New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, and the Denver Nuggets.

The NCAA or National Collegiate Athletic Association is an organization that manages and oversees student-athletes from over 1,000 North American institutions and conferences. They also categorize college and university athletic programs in the United States and Canada. It was the year 1852 when the US began intercollegiate sports. 

The NCAA was founded on March 31, 1906, 114 years ago, based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. In its 2016-17 financial year, the NCAA took in $1.06 billion in income, almost 82 percent of which was created by the Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. 

The NCAA basketball tournament itself, branded as March Madness, began in 1939. It was the brainchild of Ohio State coach Harold Olsen and has since become America’s most-viewed annual sporting events.  

The current format features 68 teams. The 32 Division 1 conference champions automatically receive berths while the 36 teams are “at-large,” selected by a special NCAA committee. The four lowest-ranked teams and the four lowest at-large bids will play a mini-tournament to determine who will enter the field of 64. From there, 64 teams go to 32, sixteen (Sweet 16), eight (Elite Eight), four (Final Four), and then the champion.

The Women’s National Basketball Association was found on April 22, 1996, and it is a professional league in the United States. The first WNBA regular season was played from May to September 1997. 

In many ways, the WNBA is the female counterpart of the NBA. It has five teams playing in the same arena as their NBA peers; that includes the Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, Minnesota Lynx, Los Angeles Sparks, and the New York Liberty. The winningest teams in the WNBA are the Comets and the Lynx, accounting for four championships each. That means they are responsible for a third of all the titles that are up for grabs in the league’s 24-year history.

The International Basketball Federation that more commonly French acronym (Federation Internationale de Basketball). It was a role by international competition. The FIBA was founded in Geneva on June 18, 1932, and it was officially acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

There were eight nations acting as founding members of FIBA. These countries are Italy, Argentina, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland. FIBA regulates the rules of basketball. It defines the equipment and facilities required, regulates the transfer of athletes across the countries, organizes international competitions, and handles the selection of international referees. 

From the founding eight, there are currently 213 members of FIBA scattered across five zones– Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. However, two of Oceania’s biggest basketball nations, Australia and New Zealand, were admitted to Asa as part of the revamped international program of FIBA.

In 1898, the first professional basketball league called the National Basketball league (NBL) was founded.

At the time they were only six teams; half of those teams were in Philadelphia called the Clover Wheelmen, Georgetown Nationals, and Hancock Athletic Association. The other three groups are in New Jersey called Millville Glass Blowers, Camden Electric, and Trenton Nationals. It lasted only until 1904 due to the investors backing out and other legal issues.

The length of time is different and depends on the level of competition you are in. A high school game, a college game, and an NBA game differ on length. International and amateur games have 40 minutes of game time (either divided into four 10-minute quarters or two 20-minute halves). A professional basketball lasts 48 minutes divided into four 12-minute quarters, not including dead-ball situations, half-time breaks, technical timeouts, and other stoppages of play.

NBA games have 48 minutes of regulation time divided into twelve minutes per quarter. However, there is a difference between regulation time and actual time. Just like the other sports, there are timeouts where the game pauses. There are six timeouts to give way for the advertisements on TV for the revenue generation during the break. 

During the postseason, things are also changing there, prone to a higher number of fouls. There are more substitutions to try out different players to come in and out in the game. By doing this, bench players can show their skills on the court to gain some experience and exposure.

Due to these differences, seasonal contests and postseason games last a different amount of time. An NBA regular season game typically lasts at 137 minutes overall, although more stoppages and replay situations can drag the game on. NBA playoff games are even longer, with some games approaching three hours with no overtimes. We have written a comprehensive guide on how long does a basketball game last.

The game of basketball made its first appearance at the Olympic Games in 1904 in St. Louis as an exhibition sport. It was not officially an Olympic sport then but was an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) event. It wasn’t until 1936 in Berlin where basketball officially became an Olympic sport. In 1972, women’s basketball also became an Olympic event.

USA has controlled international basketball and won all the titles until 1972, where the Soviet Union defeated them at the Munich games. In the women’s event, it was pretty much a two-horse race between the Soviets and the Americans. Soviet Union took gold in 1976, 1980, and 1992 and the Americans won all the other tournaments up until 2016.

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, popular players from the National Basketball Association (NBA) were authorized to play for the first time to represent the USA. This team, also known as the “Dream Team” was widely dubbed as the best basketball team that ever played. 

The sport that we came to know as basketball began in 1891 when it was invented by the Canadian instructor Dr. James Naismith. The primary reason Naismith created the sport was his students’ fitness levels during the winter season, not to mention the risk of losing his job at the school. First, the game consisted of 18 players who used a soccer ball to shoot into a basket. There was no dribbling or running with the ball all the time, following the 11 golden rules of basketball outlined by Dr. Naismith.

Fast forward today, basketball has legitimately become one of the most popular sports in the world. The NBA has become a billion-dollar business, and games are televised across the globe. In the United States, the NCAA Tournament or March Madness is one of the most-watched yearly sports events. Estimates put March Madness viewers at around 100 million, making it the most popular college sport in America.

In the international stage, FIBA and the Olympics have done an admirable job championing the popularity of the sport. The FIBA World Cup was inaugurated in 1950, while basketball officially became an Olympic sport in the 1936 Berlin Games. From there, basketball has not looked back since.

Thinking more about the history of the sport, we often forget how rich the journey has become. It’s not every day that we sit back and ask the question, “How long has basketball been around for?” Thanks to Dr. James Naismith, this sport that we love has been with us for almost 13 decades now, with no signs of slowing down.

We also answer other frequently answered questions on basketball here.

More interesting basketball FAQ articles here:

> A Comprehensive History of Basketball

> How Many Players are on a Basketball Team?

> NBA 3-Point Line History: How it Changed the Game

> When Does Basketball Season Typically Start?

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