Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics

12th Olympic Basketball Tournament
Seoul 1988
Tournament details
Olympics1988 Summer Olympics
Host nationSouth Korea
CitySeoul
DurationSeptember 17 – September 30
Men's tournament
Teams12
Medals
1 Gold medalists  Soviet Union
2 Silver medalists Yugoslavia
3 Bronze medalists  United States
Women's tournament
Teams8
Medals
1 Gold medalists  United States
2 Silver medalists Yugoslavia
3 Bronze medalists  Soviet Union
Tournaments
← Los Angeles 1984  Barcelona 1992 →

Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics was the twelfth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Jamsil Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea from 17 September to 30 September 1988. The United States won the gold medal in the women's competition, repeating their performance from the 1984 tournament.

In the men's tournament, the Soviet Union won its second gold medal in the team's history for this event. That team included a large percentage of players from the Baltic states: Sabonis, Chomičius, Kurtinaitis and Marčiulionis from Lithuania, Miglinieks from Latvia and Tiit Sokk from Estonia.

This was the last Olympic basketball tournament where NBA players were not allowed to participate; FIBA voted in a rule change in 1989 that lifted that restriction, leading to the dominance of 1992's Dream Team.[1][2]

  1. ^ Kalb, Elliott; Weinstein, Mark (2009). The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time. Skyhorse. p. 71. ISBN 9781602396784. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  2. ^ Freedman, Lew (2015). The 100 Most Important Sporting Events in American History. ABC-CLIO. p. 121. ISBN 9781440835759. Retrieved 5 May 2020.