Basketball at the 1956 Summer Olympics

	Outright qualifier, World Champion
	Outright qualifier, World Runner-up
	Outright qualifier, World Bronze Medalists
	Host nation

4th Olympic Basketball Tournament
	Melbourne 1956
Tournament details
Olympics	1956 Summer Olympics
Host nation	Australia
City	Melbourne
Duration	November 22 – December 1
Men's tournament
Teams	15
Medals
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Soviet Union
Bronze medalists	Uruguay
Tournaments
← Helsinki 1952	Rome 1960 →

Basketball at the 1956 Summer Olympics was the fourth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. Fifteen nations, an unusually low number for the basketball tournament, competed in the event, with 174 participants. A total number of 56 games of basketball were played.

The teams were divided into four pools, with four teams in three of the pools and only three in the fourth. Every team played against each other team in its pool once. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the quarterfinals, where again they were split into pools of four. Teams again played every other team in their pool, with the top two in each advancing to the semifinal and the bottom two entering a pool for 5th through 8th places. Eliminated teams also played in consolation matches with the same structure as the quarterfinals and finals, but for 9th through 15th places. The games were held at the Royal Exhibition Building.

Qualified Teams

Teams Participating by Region
Americas	Europe	Asia	Africa	Oceania
United States	Soviet Union	Philippines	No team participated	Australia
Uruguay	France	Japan		—
Brazil	Canada	South Korea
Chile	Bulgaria	Singapore
—	—	Republic of China
—	—	Thailand

Number of Berths Allocated for the Tournament
Region	Automatic	From the previous World Cup	Berth as Host nation	Total
Europe	4	N/A	N/A	4
Americas	2	2		4
Asia	5	1		6
Africa	No team participated			0
Oceania	N/A		1	1
TOTAL	11	3	1	15

Medalists

Gold:	Silver:	Bronze:
United States (USA) Carl Cain Bill Hougland K.C. Jones Bill Russell James Walsh William Evans Burdette Haldorsson Ronald Tomsic Dick Boushka Gilbert Ford Robert Jeangerard Charles Darling	Soviet Union (URS) Valdis Muižnieks Maigonis Valdmanis Vladimir Torban Stasys Stonkus Kazys Petkevičius Arkadi Bochkarev Jānis Krūmiņš Mikhail Semyonov Algirdas Lauritenas Yuri Ozerov Viktor Zubkov Mikhail Studenetsky	Uruguay (URU) Carlos Blixen Ramiro Cortes Héctor Costa Nelson Chelle Nelson Demarco Héctor García Otero Carlos Gonzáles Sergio Matto Oscar Moglia Raúl Mera Ariel Olascoaga Milton Scaron

Squads

For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters.

Preliminary round

Group A


Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
United States	3	3	0	320	122	+198	6
Philippines	3	2	1	184	226	−42	5
Japan	3	1	2	171	224	−53	4
Thailand	3	0	3	123	226	−103	3

Philippines	55–44	Thailand
Scoring by half: 34–24, 21–20

United States	98–40	Japan
Scoring by half: 33–20, 65–20

United States	101–29	Thailand
Scoring by half: 54–12, 47–17

Japan	61–76	Philippines
Scoring by half: 29–37, 32–39

Thailand	50–70	Japan
Scoring by half: 20–35, 30–35

United States	121–53	Philippines
Scoring by half: 66–23, 55–30

Group B


Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
France	3	3	0	236	183	+53	6
Soviet Union	3	2	1	255	177	+78	5
Canada	3	1	2	206	234	−28	4
Singapore	3	0	3	154	257	−103	3

Soviet Union	97–59	Canada
Scoring by half: 46–20, 51–39

Singapore	54–81	France
Scoring by half: 22–44, 32–37

Soviet Union	67–76	France
Scoring by half: 18–24, 49–52

Canada	85–58	Singapore
Scoring by half: 51–30, 34–28

Soviet Union	91–42	Singapore
Scoring by half: 40–21, 51–21

France	79–62	Canada
Scoring by half: 43–35, 36–27

TEAM	PTS	P	W	L	PF	PA
Uruguay	6	3	3	0	238	187
Bulgaria	5	3	2	1	242	199
Formosa	4	3	1	2	216	249
South Korea	3	3	0	3	194	255

South Korea	76–83	Formosa
Scoring by half: 28–42, 48–41

Uruguay	70–65	Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 38–35, 32–30

Uruguay	85–62	Formosa
Scoring by half: 39–36, 46–26

Bulgaria	89–58	South Korea
Scoring by half: 47–33, 42–25

Formosa	71–88	Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 35–47, 36–41

Uruguay	83–60	South Korea
Scoring by half: 35–25, 48–35

Brazil	89–66	Australia
Scoring by half: 50–35, 39–31

Chile	78–56	Australia
Scoring by half: 37–27, 41–29

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Formosa	3	3	0	218	189	+29	6	Classification 9–12
2	Australia (H)	3	2	1	258	208	+50	5	Classification 9–12
3	Singapore	3	1	2	200	215	−15	4	Classification 13–15
4	Thailand	3	0	3	150	214	−64	3	Classification 13–15

Singapore	64–67	Formosa
Scoring by half: 23–26, 41–41

Australia	87–48	Thailand
Scoring by half: 48–23, 39–25

Thailand	50–62	Singapore
Scoring by half: 26–29, 24–33

Australia	73–86	Formosa
Scoring by half: 40–39, 33–47

Formosa	65–52	Thailand
Scoring by half: 35–31, 30–21

Basketball at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Qualified Teams

Medalists

Squads

Preliminary round

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Classification games for 9th–15th places

Group 1 (9–15)

Group 2 (9–15)

Classification 13–15

Classification playoffs for 9th–12th places

Quarterfinals

Group A

Group B

Classification 5–8

Classification Semifinals

Seventh place match

Fifth place match

Final round

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Final

Awards

Final Rankings

References

Australia	98–74	Singapore
Scoring by half: 48–36, 50–38

South Korea	63–74 (OT)	Canada
Scoring by half: 31–32, 31–30 Overtime: 1–12

Japan	83–67	South Korea
Scoring by half: 36–23, 47–44

Classification Semifinals		13th place match

1 December

Thailand	47
		1 December
South Korea	61
		South Korea	79

		Singapore	92

Classification Semifinals		Ninth place match

1 December

Formosa	61
		1 December
Japan	82
		Japan	60
1 December
		Canada	75
Australia	38

Canada	83
		Eleventh place match

		1 December

		Formosa	87

		Australia	70

	Advance to the semifinals
	Relegated to the 5th-8th classification

Uruguay 79, Philippines 70 (OT)
Scoring by half: 42–39, 26–29 Overtime: 11–2

Philippines 65, France 58 (OT)
'Scoring by half: 30–26, 25–29 Overtime: 10–3

Chile 88, Philippines 69
Scoring by half: 42–32, 46–37

Bulgaria	44–85	United States
Scoring by half: 19–48, 25–37