Blood, sweat & Bronze: Boomers’ 68-year battle

• ‍History of the Australian Boomers men's basketball team‍
• 'Got next': Is Bryce Cotton Australia's new 'FIBA Patty'?‍
• Complete history of the Boomers vs Team USA

The Australian Boomers have competed in 16 Olympic Games since their debut tournament in 1956, only missing qualification twice since the Melbourne games.

They have made five medal games in that time span, bringing home their first and only bronze medal at Tokyo in 2020(21). Over a hundred men have worn the green and gold on the Olympic Games hardwood, with Andrew Gaze standing alone with 40 games played at the world event.

FIBA.com put together an Australian All-Star Five to match our All-Time Starting Five.

Here is a complete history of the Australian Boomers at the Olympic Games.

All-Time Olympic Games Played for Australia (Men’s)

Over time the format of the men’s tournament has changed. Up until after the 2004 games, classification games were played for those teams who had been knocked out. This is why players such as Andrew Gaze before 2004 averaged more games per tournament than those since like Patty Mills.

• Andrew Gaze – 40 (’84, ’88, ’92, ’96, ’00)
• Mark Bradtke – 32 (’88, ’92, ’96, ’00)
• Phil Smyth – 31 (’80, ’84, ’88, ’92)
• Andrew Vlahov – 30 (’88, ’92, ’96, ’00)
• Patty Mills – 29 (’08, ’12, ’16, ’20, ’24)
• Larry Sengstock – 28 (’80, ’84, ’88, ’92)
• David Anderson – 26 (’04, ’08, ’12, ’16)
• Ray Borner – 26 (’84, ’88, ’92, ’96)
• Joe Ingles – 26 (’08, ’12, ’16, ’20, ’24)
• Shane Heal – 25 (’92, ’96, ’00, ’04)
• Matthew Dellavedova – 23 (’12, ’16, ’20, ’24)
• Luc Longley – 22 (’88, ’92, ’00)
• Perry Crosswhite – 22 (’72, ’76, ’80)
• Damian Keogh – 21 (’84, ’88, ’92)
• Andrew Bogut – 19 (’04, ’08, ’16)
• Matt Nielson – 18 (’04, ’08, ’12)
• Bill Wyatt – 18 (’64, ’72)
• Aron Baynes – 16 (’12, ’16, ’20)
• Wayne Carroll – 16 (’84, ’88)
• Eddie Palubinskas – 16 (’72, ’76)
• Ian Watson – 16 (’72, ’76)
• Danny Morseu – 15 (’80, ’84)
• Ian Davies – 15 (’80, ’84)
• John Dorge – 14 (’92, ’96)
• Chris Anstey – 13 (’00, ’08)
• Jason Smith – 13 (’00, ’04)
• Tony Ronaldson – 13 (’96, ’04)
• Chris Goulding – 12 (’16, ’20)
• Mark Worthington – 12 (’08, ’12)
• Brad Newley – 12 (’08, ’12)
• CJ Bruton – 12 (’04, ’08)
• Sam Mackinnon – 12 (’96, ’00)
• Ray Tomlinson – 12 (’72, ’76)
• David Barlow – 11 (’08, ’12)
• Glen Saville – 11 (’04, ’08)
• Paul Rogers – 11 (’00, ’04)
• Brett Maher – 11 (’96, ’00, ’04)
• Brad Dalton – 11 (’84, ’88)
• Nick Kay – 10 (’20, ’24)
• Jock Landale – 10 (’20, ’24)
• Dante Exum – 9 (’20, ’24)
• Josh Green – 9 (’20, ’24)
• Brendon Hackwill – 9 (’64)
• Anatoli Koltuniewicz – 9 (’72)
• Ken James – 9 (’72)
• Peter Bryne – 9 (’72)
• Richard Duke – 9 (’72)
• John Heard – 9 (’64)
• Ken Cole – 9 (’64)
• Les Hodi – 9 (’64)
• Lindsay Gaze – 9 (’64)
• Michael Ah Matt – 9 (’64)
• Andy Campbell – 9 (’76, ’84)
• Ricky Grace – 8 (’00)
• Ryan Broekhoff – 8 (’16)
• Kevin Lisch – 8 (’16)
• Scott Fisher – 8 (’96)
• Leroy Loggins – 8 (’92)
• Mel Dalgleish – 8 (’84)
• Brian Kerle – 8 (’72)
• John Gardiner – 8 (’64)
• Carl Rodwell – 8 (’64)
• Duop Reath – 7 (’20, ’24)
• Brock Motum – 7 (’16)
• Damian Martin – 7 (’16)
• Les Riddle – 7 (’80)
• Michael Tucker – 7 (’80)
• Andris Blicavs – 7 (’76)
• John Maddock – 7 (’76)
• Scott Davie – 7 (’64)
• Mike Davie – 7 (’64)
• Algis Ignatavicius – 7 (’56)
• Geoff Heskett – 7 (’56)
• George Daniels – 7 (’56)
• Peter Bumbers – 7 (’56)
• Nathan Sobey – 6 (’20)
• Matisse Thybulle – 6 (’20)
• Aleks Maric – 6 (’12)
• Mike McKay – 6 (’92)
• Darryl Pearce – 6 (’88)
• Russell Simon – 6 (’76)
• Tom Bender – 6 (’72)
• Inge Friedenfelds – 6 (’56)
• Bruce Flick – 6 (’56)
• Stan Dargis – 6 (’56)
• Merv Moy – 6 (’56)
• Cameron Bairstow – 5 (’16)
• Shawn Redhage – 5 (’08)
• Martin Cattalini – 5 (’00, ’04)
• Mark Dalton – 5 (’84)
• Peter Ali – 5 (’80)
• Robbie Cadee – 5 (’76)
• Tony Barnett – 5 (’76)
• Werner Linde – 5 (’64)
• Colin Burdett – 5 (’56)
• Will Magnay – 4 (’24)
• Josh Giddey – 4 (’24)
• Dyson Daniels – 4 (’24)
• Jack McVeigh – 4 (’24)
• Adam Gibson – 4 (’12)
• Pat Reidy – 4 (’96)
• Gordie McLeod – 4 (’80)
• Peter Walsh – 4 (’76)
• Peter Sutton – 4 (’56)
• Steve Breheny – 3 (’80)
• Glenn Marsland – 3 (’72)
• Peter Demos – 3 (’56)
• John Rille – 3 (’04)
• Peter Crawford – 2 (’12)
• Tonny Jensen – 2 (’96)
• Ken Finch – 2 (’56)

Olympic Tournament Overviews

1956 – Melbourne: Australia played seven matches at the 1956 games. Holding an end of tournament record of 2-5. The played two initial group stage matches before being placed into classification matches. They took their first Olympic victory against Thailand (97-48) and ended the tournament in 12th position.

1964 – Tokyo: The Boomers played seven group stage matches in 1964. They finished sixth in the group, beating Peru and South Korea. They went on to win their classification games against Mexico and Japan to finish ninth in the 16-team tournament.

1972 – Munich: Like 1964, teams were split into two groups of eight, with the Boomers finishing Group A with a 3-4 record. In classification games, the Boomers beat hosts West Germany (70-69) and Poland (91-83) to finish the tournament in ninth with a 5-4 record.

1976 – Montreal: The Montreal games marked a decrease in the number of games played. Cutting the number of teams down from 16 to 12. Two groups of six were formed with the Boomers finishing fourth in Group A. They lost both classification games against Italy and Cuba to finish the tournament in eighth.

1980 – Moscow : Another change to the format was seen, with three groups of four teams formed in Moscow. Australia finished third in Group C missing out on the semi-finals, even though they finished with the same record (2-1) as first placed Italy, who they beat, and second placed Cuba. They went onto finish eighth in the tournament after the classification rounds. Finishing with a record of 5-2.

1984 – Los Angeles: Two groups of six were re-established in LA, with the Boomers finishing third in Group A. Making their first quarter-final in Olympic basketball. They would go down to Spain (101-93) and finished the tournament in seventh place with a record of 4-4.

1988 – Seoul: The Boomers made their first ever medal game in Seoul. Losing the semi-final to Yugoslavia (91-70) before going on to fall short in the bronze medal game to the United States (49-78). They finished the tournament with a 4-4 record.

1992 – Barcelona: Australia fell to Croatia in the quarter finals of the Barcelona games (98-65). Again finishing the Olympics with a 4-4 record after qualification games, placing sixth.

1996 – Atlanta: Australia finished their group in second place before making their second ever medal game. They beat Croatia (73-71) in the quarters, being matched up against the USA in the semi-finals. They would go down to Team USA and unfortunately lose the bronze medal game against Lithuania (74-80). They finished the games with a positive record of 5-3.

2000 – Sydney: In 2000, Australia would make another medal game. Finishing third in their group, they beat Italy in the quarterfinals before going down to France in the semi’s. In the bronze medal game, they fell short against Lithuania again (71-89).

2004 – Athens: The Boomers wouldn’t make it out of the group stages in Athens. Finishing their group in fifth place with a 1-4 record, they went on to beat New Zealand in a classification game. Finishing ninth in the tournament. This would mark the last Olympic tournament to play classification games.

2008 – Beijing: Australia returned to the quarter finals in Beijing, finishing their group with a 3-2 record. However, they would run into the United States in the quarters, losing 116-85.

2012 – London: Australia finished fourth in Group B, making another round of quarterfinals but like in Beijing they would run into Team USA and would be knocked out 119-86.

2016 – Rio: Australia finished second in Group A in Rio, only losing to the United States in their group. They beat Lithuania in the quarter finals (90-64) before losing to Serbia in the semis (61-87). The Boomers fell agonisingly short against Spain in the bronze medal game, losing by a singular point (88-89).

2020 – Tokyo: Tokyo marked another change to the tournament format. 12 teams still competed but it was in three groups of four, shortening the number of games required to play. Australia finished top of Group B, beating Italy, Germany and Nigeria. They were victorious in the quarter finals against Argentina (97-59) and were matched up again with the United States. They lost 97-78 however bounced back to win their first ever medal in men’s basketball with a 107-93 win against Slovenia in the bronze medal game.

2024 – Paris: The Boomers finished their group in second place with a 1-2 record, tying themselves with third placed Greece and forth placed Spain however had a superior point differential to advance. They were matched up in the quarter finals with Serbia where they lost in an overtime thriller (95-90).

All-Time Olympics Points Scorers

1. Oscar Schmidt (Brazil) – 1093
2. Andrew Gaze (Australia) – 789
3. Pau Gasol (Spain) – 649
4. Luis Scola (Argentina) – 591
5. Patty Mills (Australia) – 567
6. Wlamir Marques (Brazil) – 534
7. Manu Ginobili (Argentina) – 523
8. Kevin Durant (USA) – 518
9. Sergey Belov (USSR) – 475
10. Drazen Dalipagic (Yugoslavia) & Drazen Patrovic (Yugoslavia + Croatia) – 461

All-Time Olympics Rebounds

1. Arvydas Sabonis (USSR + Lithuania) – 259
2. Pau Gasol (Spain) – 258
3. Oscar Schmidt (Brazil) – 210
4. Piculin Ortiz (Puerto Rico) – 202
5. Luis Scola (Argentina) – 201
6. Mark Bradtke (Australia) – 189
7. Larry Sengstock (Australia) – 160
8. Israel Andrade (Brazil) – 153
9. Yi Jianlian (China) – 152
10. Yao Ming (China) – 150

All-Time Olympics Assists

1. Sarunas Jasikevicius (Lithuania) – 160
2. LeBron James (USA) – 139
3. Sarunas Marciulionis (USSR + Lithuania) – 121
4. Toni Kukoc (Yugoslavia + Croatia) – 112
5. Manu Ginobili (Argentina) – 107
6. Matthew Dellavedova (Australia) – 101
7. Shane Heal (Australia) – 95
8. Sun Fengwu (China) – 94
9. Marcelinho Huertas (Brazil) & Andrew Gaze (Australia) – 89