Basketball will feature two events on the London 2012 Olympic program – a 12-team men’s tournament and a 12-team women’s tournament.  The London 2012 basketball competition will take place in two venues. All preliminary games, along with the women’s quarter-finals, will take place at the Basketball Arena, one of the Olympic Park’s new venues. The men’s quarter-finals, plus all semi-finals and medal games, will be held at North Greenwich Arena just across the Thames.

While traditionally the United States has dominated on the men’s side since the inclusion of NBA players at the 1992 Barcelona Games, the rest of the world has rapidly caught up and are challenging the Americans for basketball supremacy.

Meanwhile on the women’s side the United States remains the team to beat, having won six of the past seven Olympic gold medals.

London 2012 Storylines:
In 1989 a ruling by FIBA changed the Olympic Games forever. FIBA allowed professionals, most notably players from the National Basketball Association (NBA), to participate in the Olympic Games. Barcelona 1992 was the first Games impacted by this decision and served as the stage for basketball’s original Dream Team featuring such star players as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. London 2012 will mark the 20th anniversary of the original Dream Team’s Olympic appearance.

Canada's Outlook:
The Canadian men's national team failed to qualify for London 2012 after compiling a 2-5 record at the FIBA Olympic Americas tournament this past September in Argentina.  The Canadian men have not qualified a team for the Olympics since Sydney 2000 where Phoenix Suns' star point guard Steve Nash led Canada to a seventh place finish.

The current women's national team is led by the husband and wife coaching combination of head coach Allison McNeill and assistant coach Mike McNeill. They too will be looking to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time since Sydney 2000 where they placed 10th overall.  Their final shot at Olympic qualification will occur at the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament starting in June of 2012 in Ankara, Turkey.

International Teams – Contenders at a Glance:

Men:

United States

• Has won 13 gold medals out of a possible 17 Olympic tournaments
• The reigning World and Olympic champions will once again be coached by Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski and the 2012 roster should feature a collection of NBA stars, including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

•  Won the Athens 2004 Olympic gold medal and claimed the bronze medal in Beijing 2008
•  The 2012 roster should feature such NBA players as Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Fabricio Oberto and Carlos Delfino

• Has won two Olympic silver medals (1984 and 2008) and the 2006 World Championship
• The 2012 roster should feature such NBA players as the Gasol brothers (Pau and Marc), as well as Rudy Fernandez, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Ricky Rubio and the Toronto Raptors’ José Calderon

• Has won 6 of the last 7 Olympic gold medals
• The 2008 Olympic champions are first overall in the women’s FIBA nation rankings
• The 2012 roster will likely be led by two-time Olympic gold medallists Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings as well as veteran Candace Parker.

• Has won the last three Olympic silver medals
• The 2012 roster should feature star centre Lauren Jackson, the two-time WNBA MVP (2003 and 2007) and three-time Olympic silver medallist (2000-2008)