The 2020 Summer Olympics women's basketball tournament in Tokyo, began on 26 July and ended on 8 August 2021. All games were played at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
It was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.
The United States won the title for the ninth overall and seventh consecutive time by defeating Japan in the final, while France secured the bronze medal with a win over Serbia.
The medals for the competition were presented by Samira Asghari, IOC Member, Afghanistan, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Andreas Zagklis, Secretary General of FIBA, Greece.
Format
The twelve teams were split into three groups of four teams. The teams placed first and second in each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter-finals. The eight teams were divided in a group D (best 4 teams) and a group E (remaining 4 teams). The quarter-final pairings were drawn on 2 August after the end of the group phase. After that, a knockout system was used.
Competition schedule
Qualification
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Squads
Each NOC was limited to one team per tournament. Each team had a roster of twelve players, one of which could be a naturalized player.
Draw
The draw was held at the FIBA Headquarters in Mies, Switzerland on 2 February 2021:
The 12 teams were divided into four pots of three teams based on their FIBA Women's World Ranking. The three groups were formed by drawing one team from each pot. Two teams from the same continent could not be placed into the same group, with the exception of European teams, where up to two teams could be in the same group.
Due to scheduling requests from the International Olympic Committee, previous champions the United States and hosts Japan were drawn into either Group B or C.
Seeding
Referees
The following 30 referees were selected for the tournament.
Juan Fernández
Leandro Lezcano
Scott Beker
James Boyer
Ademira Zurapović
Guilherme Locatelli
Andreia Silva
Matthew Kallio
Maripier Malo
Michael Weiland
Yu Jung
Maj Forsberg
Yohan Rosso
Ahmed Al-Shuwaili
Manuel Mazzoni
Takaki Kato
Yevgeniy Mikheyev
Mārtiņš Kozlovskis
Rabah Noujaim
Samir Abaakil
Kingsley Ojeaburu
Gizella Györgyi
Ferdinand Pascual
Luis Vázquez
Aleksandar Glišić
Luis Castillo
Antonio Conde
Yener Yılmaz
Amy Bonner
Steven Anderson
Preliminary round
All times are local (UTC+9).
In the preliminary round, teams receive 2 classification points for a win, 1 classification point for a loss, and 0 classification points for a forfeit.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Third-placed teams ranking
Knockout stage
Ranking
A draw after the preliminary round decided the pairings, where a seeded team played an unseeded team. The draw was held after the last group stage match on 2 August. Teams qualified were divided into two pots:
Pot D comprised the three first-placed teams from the group phase, along with the best second-placed team. Pot E comprised the two remaining second-placed teams, along with the two best third-placed teams.
Draw principles:
Each game pairing had one team from Pot D and one team from Pot E. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other in the quarterfinals. The second-placed team from Pot D could not be drawn against the third-placed teams from Pot E.
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Final ranking
Statistics and awards
Statistical leaders
Players
Points
Rebounds
Assists
Blocks
Steals
Efficiency
Teams
Points
Rebounds
Assists
Blocks
Steals
Efficiency
Awards
The awards were announced on 8 August 2021.