Basketball was on the Olympic programme in 1904, but the event was contested by only a few American club teams and actually served as the AAU (Amateur （业余爱好者）Athletic Union of the USA) Championship for that year. Thus the event is usually considered only an exhibition. The winning team, incidentally（偶然地）, was the Buffalo German club, which was so dominant in those days that they were inducted（引导；引入） into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a team.

In 1936, basketball made its first appearance as a medal sport at the Olympics, and the sport has been included in every Olympic Games since. In 1976, women's basketball was added to the programme. The United States has dominated international basketball. The USA won all the Olympic titles until 1972 when they were defeated by the Soviet Union. The Soviet women were originally the top team on the female side, winning gold in 1976, 1980 and 1992, but the US women have now surpassed them, winning gold medals in 1984, 1988, 1996 and 2000.

Today, basketball has become one of the most popular sports in the world, rivalling （竞争，对抗）football (soccer) for world-wide popularity and trailing only volleyball and track and field athletics in terms of number of member federations. US College basketball is wildly popular in the United States, culminating each March with the NCAA Championships. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the professional basketball league in the United States and universally considered to be the strongest in the world with the European leagues being close in terms of competition and public awareness.

In 1992, for the first time, NBA players were allowed to represent the USA and all other countries in national team competition. The 1992 US Team, dubbed the "Dream Team" by the world's media, was certainly the greatest basketball team ever assembled and it dominated the 1992 Olympic tournament. Full professional participation is now allowed for both men and women in basketball at the Olympics. With the United States allowed to use NBA professionals, they have reasserted their dominance at the international level, with victory in every tournament in which NBA players have participated. However, the gap between the USA and the rest of the world seems to be ever decreasing, as was witnessed during the Sydney Olympics, in which the USA was tested several times on the way to the gold medal.

    Further proof of that challenge has been given by the sensational upset of a star domed US team during the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, USA. Argentina, Yugoslavia and Spain defeated the USA who was left with a disappointing sixth place in their own country.

1904年，在美国圣路易斯举行的第3届奥运会上，美国的2支球队首次将篮球进行了表演展示。1936年，在第11届柏林奥运会上，男子篮球终于被列为奥运会的正式比赛项目。而女子篮球，直到1976年的第21届蒙特利尔奥运会上才成为正式的比赛项目。

回顾奥运会篮球的发展，原国际篮球联合会秘书长波?斯坦科维奇曾说过：“1936年在篮球史上应大书一笔。”毫无疑问，篮球项目能登上奥运会竞技舞台，对于篮球运动的发展具有里程碑的意义。

在第11届柏林奥运会上，共有来自北美洲、南美洲、亚洲、欧洲和非洲的21支球队参加了篮球比赛，成为当时柏林奥运会团体比赛项目中参赛队伍最多的一个项目，显示了篮球运动的巨大魅力。

当然，这届奥运会的篮球比赛的水平还不高，最后的总决赛是在美国队和加拿大队之间进行的，两队的比赛结果是19∶8，美国队获得了奥运会首届篮球比赛的冠军。我国著名篮球裁判舒鸿先生担任了本场比赛的临场裁判工作。 时至今日，虽然奥运会篮球比赛只设男女2个团体项目，各有金、银、铜3块奖牌，但各国都非常重视奥运会的篮球比赛，可以说奥运会篮球比赛已成为当今世界篮球大赛中最重要的赛事。

从历届奥运会篮球比赛来看，世界强队多集中在欧美，美国男、女篮尤为突出。在过去的16届男子篮球和8届女子篮球奥运会比赛中，美国男篮获得了12次冠军（前苏联获得2次冠军，前南斯拉夫和阿根廷各获得1次冠军）；美国女篮获得5次冠军（前苏联获得2次冠军，独联体1次）。

目前，美国篮球依然保持着领先地位，但随着1992年允许职业选手参赛和美国NBA推行的球员国际化战略，一些世界级的强队与他们的差距正在缩小。谁是奥运会男篮冠军,已从以往的没有悬念发展到现在的扑朔迷离。