Since its first inclusion at the 1936 Games in Berlin, men's basketball at the Olympics has been dominated by the United States.
The sport looked very different 85 years ago than it does today. In the gold medal game in 1936, the U.S. defeated Canada, 19–8, and scored a combined 44 points in the final and semifinal. That kicked off a run of supremacy that spanned the better part of the 20th century.
From 1936 to 1968, the U.S. won gold in seven consecutive Games. In total, the Americans have won gold 16 times out of 20 tournaments. The Soviet Union has won twice in 1972 and 1988, while Yugoslavia (1980) and Argentina (2004) have each won once.
The U.S. won silver in 1972 after losing a controversial final game to the Soviet Union, 51-50, in which officials intervened on the final play to give the Soviets two additional chances to score after the final buzzer sounded. After the defeat, the U.S. players refused to accept their silver medals.
The U.S. has twice won bronze medals in 1988 and 2004. The only year the American team did not medal was the Moscow Games in 1980, when the country did not attend as a protest to the 1979 Soviet-Afghan War.
After settling for a bronze medal in 2004, the U.S. has won every gold medal since, beginning with 2008's "Redeem Team" led by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
