Basketball

Olympic sport for men since 1936 and for women since 1976.

Basketball is a ball sport played by two teams of five players on a side. It is highly suited to viewing by spectators as an indoor sport with a relatively small court with only ten players.

Basketball is that rare sport that was invented, largely from scratch and with rules close to its present ones, by one man. Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian, invented basketball in 1891, at a college for YMCA professionals in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Basketball was included in the Olympic Games in 1936, after a demonstration tournament was held in 1904. The sport has been part of the Olympic program since, and has been mostly dominated by the United States, who have so far won all but three titles - their first Olympic loss was in a close Olympic final in Munich in 1972 against the Soviet Union. Women's basketball was added to the Olympics in 1976 and since 1992, professional players are allowed to compete in the Olympics.

At the Olympics games are played to two halves of twenty minutes each.