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 （業余愛好者）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（引導；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 （競爭，對抗）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，在美國圣路易斯舉行的第3屆奧運會上，美國的2支球隊首次將籃球進行了表演展示。1936年，在第11屆柏林奧運會上，男子籃球終于被列為奧運會的正式比賽項目。而女子籃球，直到1976年的第21屆蒙特利爾奧運會上才成為正式的比賽項目。

回顧奧運會籃球的發展，原國際籃球聯合會秘書長波?斯坦科維奇曾說過：“1936年在籃球史上應大書一筆。”毫無疑問，籃球項目能登上奧運會競技舞臺，對于籃球運動的發展具有里程碑的意義。

在第11屆柏林奧運會上，共有來自北美洲、南美洲、亞洲、歐洲和非洲的21支球隊參加了籃球比賽，成為當時柏林奧運會團體比賽項目中參賽隊伍最多的一個項目，顯示了籃球運動的巨大魅力。

當然，這屆奧運會的籃球比賽的水平還不高，最后的總決賽是在美國隊和加拿大隊之間進行的，兩隊的比賽結果是19∶8，美國隊獲得了奧運會首屆籃球比賽的冠軍。我國著名籃球裁判舒鴻先生擔任了本場比賽的臨場裁判工作。 時至今日，雖然奧運會籃球比賽只設男女2個團體項目，各有金、銀、銅3塊獎牌，但各國都非常重視奧運會的籃球比賽，可以說奧運會籃球比賽已成為當今世界籃球大賽中最重要的賽事。

從歷屆奧運會籃球比賽來看，世界強隊多集中在歐美，美國男、女籃尤為突出。在過去的16屆男子籃球和8屆女子籃球奧運會比賽中，美國男籃獲得了12次冠軍（前蘇聯獲得2次冠軍，前南斯拉夫和阿根廷各獲得1次冠軍）；美國女籃獲得5次冠軍（前蘇聯獲得2次冠軍，獨聯體1次）。

目前，美國籃球依然保持著領先地位，但隨著1992年允許職業選手參賽和美國NBA推行的球員國際化戰略，一些世界級的強隊與他們的差距正在縮小。誰是奧運會男籃冠軍,已從以往的沒有懸念發展到現在的撲朔迷離。