Basketball was officially recognised as an Olympic sport in 1930
and made its debut in the men’s programme at the 1936 Berlin
Games. Dr James Naismith, the father of basketball, opened the
tournament with the jump ball of the first game between France
and Estonia. The USA went on to beat Canada in the Final. After
a 12-year hiatus because of the Second World War, the Olympics
resumed in 1948 in London with 23 teams competing in the
basketball tournament. France had a memorable run to the Final
but fell to a mighty USA team. A soporific Final between the USA
and the Soviet Union at the 1952 Games led FIBA legislators to
introduce the 30-second shot clock and the 10-second backcourt
rule to reinvigorate basketball in the Olympics. In 1960, the
first pre-Olympic basketball saw Czechoslovakia, Spain,
Yugoslavia, Hungary and Poland emerge from an 18-team field to
join 11 automatically qualified countries for the Games in Rome.
The USA, featuring college legends Oscar Robertson, Jerry West,
Jerry Lucas and Walt Bel