1.
2016 Summer Olympics
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More than 11,000 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, and the Refugee Olympic Team, took part. With 306 sets of medals, the games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf and these sporting events took place at 33 venues in the host city, and at five in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília, and Manaus. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the International Olympic Committee presidency of Thomas Bach, the host city Rio de Janeiro was announced at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009. Rio became the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics, the United States topped the medal table for the fifth time in the past six Summer Olympics, winning the most golds and most medals overall, as well as its 1, 000th Olympic gold medal overall. Great Britain finished second and became the first country in the history of the modern Olympics to increase its tally of medals in the subsequent games after being the host nation. Host country Brazil won seven medals, its most at any single Summer Olympics. Bahrain, Fiji, Jordan, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Tajikistan, Ivory Coast and Vietnam each won their first gold medals, the bidding process for the 2016 Olympic Games was officially launched on 16 May 2007. The first step for each city was to submit an application to the International Olympic Committee by 13 September 2007. Completed official bid files, containing answers to a 25-question IOC form, were to be submitted by each 14 January 2008. Four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist on 4 June 2008, Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, prague and Baku also failed to make the cut. Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco headed the 10-member Evaluation Commission, having chaired the evaluation commission for the 2012 Summer Olympics bids. The commission made on-site inspections in the quarter of 2009. They issued a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members on 2 September, many restrictions are in place designed to prevent bidding cities from communicating with or influencing directly the 115 voting members. Cities may not invite any IOC member to visit nor may they send anything that could be construed as a gift, the final voting was held on 2 October 2009, in Copenhagen with Madrid and Rio de Janeiro perceived as favourites to land the games. Chicago and Tokyo were eliminated after the first and second rounds of voting, respectively, the lead held and Rio de Janeiro was announced as host of 2016 Summer Olympics. This comes just five months after CCO Flávio Pestana quit for personal reasons, Pestana withdrew later during the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Renato Ciuchin was then appointed as COO, events took place at eighteen existing venues, nine new venues constructed specifically for the Games, and seven temporary venues. Each event was held in one of four geographically segregated Olympic clusters, Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro, the same was done for the 2007 Pan American Games
2.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
3.
Rio de Janeiro
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Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazils third-most populous state. Part of the city has designated as a World Heritage Site, named Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, later, in 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire. Rio stayed the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian monarchy until 1822 and this is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country, the home of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to 2005 data. The Maracanã Stadium held the finals of the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the city is divided into 33 administrative regions. Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502, by a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos captain of a ship in Pedro Álvares Cabrals fleet, allegedly the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer at the invitation of King Manuel I in the same expedition. The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo, in 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony, Rio de Janeiro was the name of Guanabara Bay. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several, mostly French, pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc, on 27 January 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The kingdoms capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, as there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes. The first printed newspaper in Brazil, the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, from the colonial period until the first independent decades, Rio de Janeiro was a city of slaves. There was an influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro, in 1819. In 1840, the number of slaves reached 220,000 people, the Port of Rio de Janeiro was the largest port of slaves in America. As a political center of the country, Rio concentrated the political-partisan life of the Empire and it was the main stage of the abolitionist and republican movements in the last half of the 19th century. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic, until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic city centre, on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Expansion of the city to the north and south was facilitated by the consolidation and electrification of Rios streetcar transit system after 1905, though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960
4.
United States men's national basketball team
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The USA Basketball Mens Senior National Team, commonly known as the United States Mens National Basketball Team, represents the United States in international mens basketball. The USA team is the most successful team in competition, winning medals in all eighteen Olympic tournaments it has entered. The United States is currently ranked first in the FIBA World Rankings, traditionally composed of amateur players, a 1989 rule change by FIBA allowed USA Basketball to field teams with professional players. The first such team, known as the Dream Team, won the medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. With the introduction of professionals, the team was able to spark a run of dominance after capturing only a bronze medal in 1988. A team of professional players competed at the 1994 FIBA World Championship, in 1996,2000,2008,2012, and 2016 the USA again captured gold medals at the Olympics. Facing increased competition, the USA failed to win a medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, determined to put an end to these failures, USA Basketball initiated a long-term project aimed at creating better, more cohesive teams. The USA won its first seven games at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan before losing against Greece in the semi-finals, the USA won gold two years later, though, at the 2008 Summer Olympics with a dominant performance. The USA continued this streak of dominance by going undefeated and capturing gold once more at the 2012 Summer Olympics,2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, the United States possessed a clear advantage in the early decades of international play. Through the next six tournaments, the United States went undefeated, collecting gold while not losing a single contest in the held in London, Helsinki, Melbourne, Rome, Tokyo. Roster until the formation of the 1992 Dream Team, the 1952 team included big man Clyde Lovellette of the University of Kansas, a future Hall of Famer and NBA star, but Kurland once again led the team to victory. The 1956 team was led by San Francisco Dons Bill Russell, the 1972 Olympic mens basketball gold medal game, marking the first ever loss for the USA in Olympic play, is arguably the most controversial in Olympic history. The United States rode their seven consecutive gold medals and 63–0 Olympic record to Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics, the team won its first eight games in convincing fashion, setting up a final against the Soviet Union. With three seconds left in the medal game, American forward Doug Collins sank two free throws to put the Americans up 50–49. However, the buzzer sounded before Collins second free throw, immediately following Collins free throws, the Soviets inbounded the ball and failed to score. But one official had whistled play to stop with one remaining after hearing the earlier horn. The Soviets argued that they had requested a timeout before Collins foul shots, the referees ordered the clock reset to three seconds and the games final seconds replayed. However, the clock was in the process of being reset when the referees put the ball in play
5.
Rio de Janeiro (state)
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Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo, the state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast. Rio de Janeiro shares borders with all the states in the same Southeast macroregion, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo. It is bounded on the east and south by the Atlantic Ocean, Rio de Janeiro has an area of 43,653 km². The archaic demonym meaning for the Rio de Janeiro State is fluminense, taken from the Latin word flumen, from 1783 and during all the Imperial Regime, carioca remained only as a nickname by which other Brazilians called the inhabitants of Rio. During the first years of the Brazilian Republic, carioca was the given to those who lived in the slums or a pejorative way to refer the bureaucratic elite of the Federal District. Only when the City of Rio lost its status as Federal District and became a Brazilian State when the capital was moved to Brasilia, carioca was made a co-official demonym with guanabarino. In 1975, the Guanabara State was extinct by President Geisel becoming the present City of Rio de Janeiro, nowadays, social movements like Somos Todos Cariocas try to achieve the official recognition of carioca as a co-official demonym of Rio de Janeiro State. Rio de Janeiro is the smallest state in the Southeast macroregion, in the Brazilian flag, the state is represented by the Beta star in the Southern Cross. European presence in Rio de Janeiro is as old as Brazil itself, Rio de Janeiro originated from parts of the captainships of de Tomé and São Vicente. Between 1555 and 1567, the territory was occupied by the French, aiming to prevent the occupation of the Frenchmen, in March 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was established by Estácio de Sá. In 1763, Rio de Janeiro became the capital of Colonial Brazil, with the flight of the Portuguese royal family from Portugal to Brazil in 1808, the region soon benefited from urban reforms to house the Portuguese. The following years witnessed the creation of the Jardim Botânico and the Academia Real Militar, during this same time, the Escola Real de Ciências, Artes e Ofícios was founded as well. In 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro was transformed into a city, remaining as capital of the state, while the captainships became provinces, with headquarters in Niterói. In 1889, the city became the capital of the Republic, the city became the federal district. In 1894, Petrópolis became the capital of Rio de Janeiro, with the relocation of the federal capital to Brasília in 1960, the city of Rio de Janeiro became Guanabara State. Niterói remained the capital for Rio de Janeiro state, while Rio de Janeiro served the same status for Guanabara. In 1975, the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro were merged under the name of Rio de Janeiro, the symbols of the former State of Rio de Janeiro were preserved, while the symbols of Guanabara were kept by the city of Rio de Janeiro
6.
2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup
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The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. Hosted by Spain, it was the last tournament to be held on the then-current four-year cycle, the next FIBA World Cup will be held five years later, in 2019, to reset the four-year-cycle on a different year than the FIFA World Cup. FIBA opened the process on 10 January 2008 and all the letters of intent were submitted on 30 April 2008. Nine countries showed interest in hosting the event, as in order, they were Spain, France, Denmark, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Italy, Greece, and China. On 23 May 2009, after voting by the FIBA Central Board in Geneva in which the Chinese and Spanish representatives abstained, in the final round, Arvydas Sabonis and Saša Djordjević announced that Spain won the hosting rights with eleven votes as opposed to Italys eight. The Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid was the venue, hosting the final. Amongst venues used in FIBA EuroBasket 2007, the arenas in Granada, Seville, one arena, the Gran Canaria Arena, was the only new venue, being built after the tournament was awarded to Spain. The other cities hosted a group, on 17 April 2010, Barcelona was added to the list of cities to hold games, bringing the total venues to six. This was Barcelonas first time being part of an international event in basketball since the 1997 EuroBasket. Barcelona will host half of the games in the knockout stage, below is a list of the confirmed venues which were used to host games during the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Connor Floor was the supplier of the basketball courts for each of the six sites. There were 24 teams taking part in the 2014 World Cup of Basketball, after the 2012 Olympics, the continental allocation for FIBA Americas was reduced by one when the United States won the Olympic tournament, automatically qualifying them for the 2014 World Cup. But later the FIBA Central Board decided not to trim the list of wild card applicants on their Buenos Aires meeting, making all 15 teams eligible to be selected on the February meeting at Barcelona. On 1 February 2014, FIBA announced that it had allocated the wild cards to Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey. The Senegalese federation was suspended due to age fabrication in the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Men and for Women. This was the first time the new expanded free throw lane, the restricted arc, the final round was held in two arenas, in the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid and Palau Sant Jordi, as opposed to a singular arena in 2010. Also, the arrangement of the round of 16 match-ups in the bracket were changed, in 2010, a team from Group A or B can meet a team from Group C or D as early in the quarterfinals, and cannot meet their groupmates until the semifinals. In 2010, the round of 16 games were held in a span of four days, or two matches per day, in 2014, there would be four games per day, finally, the classification round for 5th place was also eliminated
7.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
8.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
9.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
10.
Brazil national basketball team
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The Brazil national basketball team represents Brazil in FIBAs basketball competitions. The team is governed by the Brazilian Basketball Confederation, abbreviated as CBB and they have been a member of the International Federation of Basketball since 1935. Brazils basketball team remains among the most successful in the Americas and it is the only team besides the United States that has appeared at every Basketball World Cup since it was first held in 1950. Basketball was initially introduced to Brazil by Professor Augusto Shaw in 1896, in 1912, he began organizing the first state tournament and in 1922 the first national team made its debut at games against Argentina and Uruguay. As in the case of football, South America was initially ahead of the rest of the world, in that decade, Brazilian basketball was supported by professional football clubs, to include it as a new sports section, although amateur in nature. Later, these clubs became professional and supported the team with world-class players. In the following years, Brazil became a regular at international competitions. Its basketball squad participated in the first official basketball tournament at the Summer Olympics 1936 in Berlin, in 1939, the first continental championship was held in Rio de Janeiro. In the 40s, basketball was catching on more layers of society, the sport received the ultimate accolade at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. There, against all odds, the directed by Moacyr Daiuto managed to achieve the bronze medal. The team recorded six wins until it stopped due to the semi-final defeat to France. In the bronze match, Brazil beat Mexico. They managed to feature ten amateur players, the pre-Olympic Brazil concentration was very poor in resources. After its time-consuming journey to London, the team was astonishment when they saw how the U. S. team practiced, Brazil only had two for the whole team. One of the pillars of Brazilian basketball was the boldness of its coaches. The father of all is Togo Renan Soares, Kanela. Working in the shadow of the giant football, Kanela understood that basketball would add more followers if it could offer new emotions. He aimed to get the media involved, so the game was conceived as a spectacle based on its dynamism
11.
Australia men's national basketball team
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The Australian mens national basketball team is the mens basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known in Australia as the Boomers, an Australian slang term for a male kangaroo, Australia is currently ranked 10th in the FIBA World Rankings, and finished 4th at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Australia is a power in all forms of basketball. After the formation of the NBL, players began to be selected almost exclusively from that competition during the 1980s and 1990s. This has changed in recent years, with many Australian players heading to the stronger Euroleague to play, and several heading to the National Basketball Association in North America. Two other players who were ruled out of the World Cup due to play in the NBA, namely Andrew Bogut of the Golden State Warriors. Further, several players on national teams are student athletes at the AIS or in the US college basketball system. By the early 21st century, close to half of the squad were playing outside of Australia, the trend of Boomers based outside of Australia has accelerated in the 2010s. The development of the Australian Institute of Sport has helped the establishment of Australia on the international stage, Australia has participated in the most Olympic mens basketball tournaments without winning a medal. Australia debuted on the stage at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games held in Melbourne. Australia did not fare well in the competition, defeating only two sides, and finishing 12th, the seeds were sown for Australia to become a regular team in international events. After not qualifying for the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, the Australians improved on their position in Melbourne, to be ranked ninth at the completion of the games. After failing in their bid to qualify for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and they did not play again in a major international tournament until 1970, when the team qualified for the FIBA World Championship for the first time. The team finished in 12th place, with their victory coming over the United Arab Republic. The 1972 Munich Olympic Games was a changing of the guard for the Australians, Lindsay Gaze made his coaching debut, after playing at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Australia again finished ninth, but close defeats to Czechoslovakia and Spain left the close to advancing to the second round. Eddie Palubinskas was the holder of the second highest scoring average of the tournament. The Boomers defeated Mexico, 120–117, in an overtime game, in 1978, the Boomers headed to the Philippines for the 1978 FIBA World Championship
12.
Tunisia
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Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia is the northernmost country in Africa, covering 165,000 square kilometres. Its northernmost point, Cape Angela, is the northernmost point on the African continent and it is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisias population was estimated to be just under 11 million in 2014, Tunisias name is derived from its capital city, Tunis, which is located on Tunisias northeast coast. Geographically, Tunisia contains the end of the Atlas Mountains. Much of the rest of the land is fertile soil. Tunisia is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic and it is considered to be the only full democracy in the Arab World. It has a human development index. In addition, Tunisia is also a state of the United Nations. Close relations with Europe – in particular with France and with Italy – have been forged through economic cooperation, privatisation, in ancient times, Tunisia was primarily inhabited by Berbers. Phoenician immigration began in the 12th century BC, these immigrants founded Carthage, a major mercantile power and a military rival of the Roman Republic, Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 BC. The Romans, who would occupy Tunisia for most of the eight hundred years, introduced Christianity. After several attempts starting in 647, the Arabs conquered the whole of Tunisia by 697, the Ottomans held sway for over three hundred years. The French colonization of Tunisia occurred in 1881, Tunisia gained independence with Habib Bourguiba and declared the Tunisian Republic in 1957. In 2011, the Tunisian Revolution resulted in the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country voted for parliament again on 26 October 2014, and for President on 23 November 2014. The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis, an urban hub. The present form of the name, with its Latinate suffix -ia, the French derivative Tunisie was adopted in some European languages with slight modifications, introducing a distinctive name to designate the country. Other languages remained untouched, such as the Russian Туни́с and Spanish Túnez, in this case, the same name is used for both country and city, as with the Arabic تونس, and only by context can one tell the difference. The name Tunis can be attributed to different origins and it is generally associated with the Berber root ⵜⵏⵙ, transcribed tns, which means to lay down or encampment
Gold medalists 
Silver medalists
Bronze medalists
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Spain
United States
Tokyo
Brazil
Australia
Radès
Nigeria
Mexico City
Venezuela
Argentina
Lithuania
Changsha
Belgrade[3]
Pasay[3]
France
Turin[3]
Croatia
Turkey
Edmonton
Yaoundé
Senegal
Belarus
United States
Serbia
Spain