History of the Argentina national basketball team
In successive years, other clubs such as Ñaró, Estudiantes (LP), River Plate, Gimnasia y Esgrima, Universitario and Racing) registered their teams to the Federation. On August 30, 1929, the Argentine Basketball Federation (current "Confederación Argentina") was established, with founder members from Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fe, La Rioja, North Federation and Bahía Blanca. The Federación Argentina focused on the spread of basketball in Buenos Aires as in the rest of the provinces of Argentina.
History of the Argentina national basketball team
On July 2004 Argentina began preparations for the Olympic Games in Athens, starting with the 2004 South American Championship held in Brazil, the Argentine team defeated the hosts in the final. Next came a series of exhibitions on home soil against Venezuela, Spain's alternate team and Brazil, on which Argentina came away with no victories. With the final roster decided, Argentina traveled to Europe for a last series of matches. From July 31 to August 3, the second edition of the FIBA Diamond Ball was held in Belgrade, a tournament that reunited the champions from the five FIBA zones, plus the reigning World Champion. Argentina participated as the Americas representative, since the United States did not participate and finished in third place. Argentina then concluded its series of exhibitions in Madrid with a victory against Lithuania and a defeat against the locals Spain.
Argentina made their debut on the group phase of the Olympic Tournament with an 83–82 victory against world champions Serbia and Montenegro, thanks to a last-second basket by Manu Ginóbili. After losses against Spain and Italy, Argentina still managed to advance to the next stage. In the quarterfinals, the Argentine team beat hosts Greece and advanced to the semifinals where they achieved yet another historic victory against the United States, denying the American men's team a gold medal for the first time since 1988. On August 28, 2004, Argentina obtained its first gold medal in basketball by defeating Italy 84–69 in the final. The impact the series of results obtained between the Indianapolis and Athens tournaments led the Argentine press to dub this group of players "The Golden Generation" ("La Generación Dorada", in Spanish). The Olympics title in 2004 is the higher honor and important title of Argentine basketball.