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London 2012 Olympic Basketball

travoholic | Jul 3, 2010 |

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In 1891, a Young Men's Christian Association's (YMCA) professor and instructor invented an indoor game that would keep his gym class active during the rainy season. Dr. James Naismith introduced the game "Basket Ball" to his students where the aim was to successfully throw a ball in a peach basket nailed to a 10-foot track. The basket's bottom was initially retained making the students to retrieve the ball after each basket. Soon the peach basket evolved to a metal rim attached to a board and a pole. The first official game was played in the gym of YMCA on January 20, 1892 with an ending score of 1-0. The new game soon spread from to school to school and the international community.

The game of basketball has come along way when you consider the next Olympic basketball games taking place at the London 2012 Olympics. Although the game of basketball has not changed the entertainment factor has increased quite a bit. The game's popularity has reached overseas and in 1932 at Geneva, Switzerland the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) was founded. The FIBA organized the first Olympic basketball to be included in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin, Germany during the Nazi regime. Its brainchild, Dr. James Naismith presented the medals to the top three teams. The United States dominated the game winning all gold Olympic medals from 1936 up until 1972 in Munich, Germany (ironically where the game was first played in the Olympics).

From the introduction of basketball in 1936 only amateur players were allowed to play in the Olympics. By 1989, FIBA ruled the permitting of professional basketball players to compete in international games including the Olympics. The NBA soon debuted with the 'Dream Team' in the 1992 with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as its frontrunners. The USA proved to be again a fierce rival in the Olympics with gold medals in 1992 Barcelona, Spain; 1996 Atlanta, USA; and 2000 Sydney, Australia Olympics. However, due to the ever growing number of enthusiasts around the world, other countries have proven to be 'a force to reckon with' when it comes to basketball. In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Soviet Union ranked 1st beating USA who took the bronze medal trailing behind Yugoslavia. The 2004 Athens Olympics is another disappointment for the basketball domineering 'Dream Team' with defeats from teams of Puerto Rico, Lithuania and Argentina losing the chance of the much coveted gold medal.

Overall, the USA Basketball Team still leads the Olympic Basketball tournaments when it comes to the number of medals with 13 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze, a total of 16 out of the 17 Olympics the game was featured (USA along with 62 other nations, opted to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics after Russia's invasion of Afghanistan). The rest went to Russia with 2 gold medals and Yugoslavia's one. The London 2012 Olympics will prove to be a very much anticipated event for the basketball community.