Spain
Spain the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula, its territory includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country. Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are part of Spanish territory; the country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar. With an area of 505,990 km2, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, the fourth largest country in the European continent. By population, Spain is the fifth in the European Union. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania, based on the earlier Phoenician name Spn or Spania.
At the end of the Western Roman Empire the Germanic tribal confederations migrated from Central Europe, invaded the Iberian peninsula and established independent realms in its western provinces, including the Suebi and Vandals. The Visigoths would forcibly integrate all remaining independent territories in the peninsula, including Byzantine provinces, into the Kingdom of Toledo, which more or less unified politically and all the former Roman provinces or successor kingdoms of what was documented as Hispania. In the early eighth century the Visigothic Kingdom fell to the Moors of the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate, who arrived to rule most of the peninsula in the year 726, leaving only a handful of small Christian realms in the north and lasting up to seven centuries in the Kingdom of Granada; this led to many wars during a long reconquering period across the Iberian Peninsula, which led to the creation of the Kingdom of Leon, Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre as the main Christian kingdoms to face the invasion.
Following the Moorish conquest, Europeans began a gradual process of retaking the region known as the Reconquista, which by the late 15th century culminated in the emergence of Spain as a unified country under the Catholic Monarchs. Until Aragon had been an independent kingdom, which had expanded toward the eastern Mediterranean, incorporating Sicily and Naples, had competed with Genoa and Venice. In the early modern period, Spain became the world's first global empire and the most powerful country in the world, leaving a large cultural and linguistic legacy that includes more than 570 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. During the Golden Age there were many advancements in the arts, with world-famous painters such as Diego Velázquez; the most famous Spanish literary work, Don Quixote, was published during the Golden Age. Spain hosts the world's third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a parliamentary monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state.
It is a major developed country and a high income country, with the world's fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and sixteenth largest by purchasing power parity. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization and many other international organisations. While not an official member, Spain has a "Permanent Invitation" to the G20 summits, participating in every summit, which makes Spain a de facto member of the group; the origins of the Roman name Hispania, from which the modern name España was derived, are uncertain due to inadequate evidence, although it is documented that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians referred to the region as Spania, therefore the most accepted etymology is a Semitic-Phoenician one.
Down the centuries there have been a number of accounts and hypotheses: The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term span is the Phoenician word spy, meaning "to forge metals". Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean "the land where metals are forged", it may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meaning "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean. The word in question means "Hyrax" due to Phoenicians confusing the two animals. Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia
Basketball at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
The men's tournament of basketball at the 2000 Olympics at Sydney, Australia began on September 17 and ended on October 1, when the United States defeated France 85–75 for the gold medal. Preliminary round games were held at elimination games at the Sydney SuperDome. Twelve teams are split into 2 preliminary round groups of 6 teams each; the top 4 teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. Fifth and sixth-placed teams from each group are ranked 9th–12th in two additional matches. In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1; the eliminated teams at the quarterfinals are ranked 5th–8th in two additional matches. The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A3/B2 vs. A1/B4 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1; the winning teams from the semifinals dispute the gold medal. The losing teams dispute the bronze. Ties are broken via the following the criteria, with the first option used first, all the way down to the last option: Head to head results Goal average between the tied teams Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group All times are local
Greece
Greece the Hellenic Republic, self-identified and known as Hellas, is a country located in Southern and Southeast Europe, with a population of 11 million as of 2016. Athens is largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is located at the crossroads of Europe and Africa. Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, Turkey to the northeast; the Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a large number of islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres; the country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace and the Ionian Islands.
Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and notably the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as poleis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, in which Greek language and culture were dominant. Rooted in the first century A. D. the Greek Orthodox Church helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World. Falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence.
Greece's rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The sovereign state of Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, a high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001, it is a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Greece's unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, prominent shipping sector and geostrategic importance classify it as a middle power, it is the largest economy in the Balkans. The names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages and cultures.
The Greek name of the country is Hellas or Ellada, its official name is the Hellenic Republic. In English, the country is called Greece, which comes from Latin Graecia and means'the land of the Greeks'; the earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, in the Greek province of Macedonia. All three stages of the stone age are represented for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe. Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilisation, beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete, the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland; these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek.
The Mycenaeans absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, during a time of regional upheaval known as the Bronze Age collapse. This ushered from which written records are absent. Though the unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for the reconstruction of the political landscape and can't support the existence of a larger state contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King" based in mainland Greece; the end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to the year of the first Olympic Games. The Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, So
1998 FIBA World Championship
The 1998 FIBA World Championship was the 13th FIBA World Championship, an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation and hosted in Greece from 29 July to 9 August 1998. The tournament was contested by 16 nations and the matches were played in two venues in Athens and Piraeus; because of the National Basketball Association lockout and unlike the previous championship, the USA Basketball Association was unable to send a team comprised from NBA players, thus causing the American national team roster to be comprised out of professional basketball players playing in Europe and two college players. The tournament was won by FR Yugoslavia, in their first participation after the breakup of Yugoslavia, defeating 64–62 Russia in the final. Greece and the United States qualified automatically, the first because of its status as host country, the latter due to earning a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics; the remaining places were secured according to the different continental tournaments held in 1997.
The top three teams in each group advance to the second round, into either Group E or F. The fourth place team in each group moves onto the 13th–16th classification. First three teams in each group of the first group phase qualify to the second phase, creating two new groups of six teams; the final standings take in account the results of previous round matches. Vasili Karasev Alberto Herreros Dejan Bodiroga — MVP Gregor Fučka Željko Rebrača FIBA official website EuroBasket.com FIBA Basketball World Cup Page
1950 FIBA World Championship
The 1950 FIBA World Championship called the 1st World Basketball Championship – 1950, was an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in Buenos Aires, from October 22 to November 3, 1950. Ten nations participated in the inaugural tournament. All competition was held at Buenos Aires. Argentina claimed the gold medal, by beating the United States 64–50. FIBA determined the requirements to qualify for the World Championship as follows: the three best teams in the previous Summer Olympics basketball, the two best teams from South America and Asia, plus the host country. France and the United States were granted a place each, following their performances in the 1948 Summer Olympics held at London. Uruguay and Chile qualified as the top two teams in the 1949 South American Basketball Championship, Egypt, with the first place at EuroBasket 1949. Since no Asian teams were present due to travel difficulties, invitations were extended to Ecuador and Spain. Uruguay withdrew from the tournament as well, for political reasons.
Peru went instead. Egypt and Peru advance to the second preliminary phase. Ecuador and Yugoslavia advance to the first repass round. Argentina, Egypt and USA advance to the final round. Chile and France advance to the first repass round Peru and Spain advance to the second repass round. Chile and France advance to the second phase. Ecuador and Yugoslavia are relegated to the classification round. Chile and France advance to the final round. Peru and Spain are relegated to the classification round. Argentina: Óscar Furlong, Ricardo González, Pedro Bustos, Leopoldo Contarbio, Hugo del Vecchio, Vito Liva, Alberto López, Rubén Menini, Omar Monza, Raúl Pérez Varela, Juan Carlos Uder, Roberto Viau USA: John Stanich, Bob Fisher, Bryce Heffley, Tom Jaquet, Dan Kahler, John Langdon, Les Metzger, J. L. Parks, Jimmy Reese, Don Slocum, Blake Williams Chile: Rufino Bernedo, Pedro Araya, Eduardo Cordero, Mariano Fernández, Exequiel Figueroa, Juan José Gallo, Raúl López, Luis Enrique Marmentini, Juan Ostoic, Hernán Ramos, Marcos Sánchez, Víctor Mahana Brazil: Zenny de Azevedo "Algodão", Ruy de Freitas, Alfredo da Motta, Paulo Rodrigues Siqueira "Montanha", Hélio Marques Pereira "Godinho", Celso dos Santos, Plutão de Macedo, Sebastião Amorim Gimenez "Tiao", Thales Monteiro, Alexandre Gemignani, Milton Santos Marques "Miltinho", Ângelo Bonfietti "Angelim" Oscar Furlong John Stanich Rufino Bernedo Álvaro Salvadores Ricardo González Álvaro Salvadores 13.8 Fortunato Muñoz 13.2 Alfredo Arroyave 11.4 Óscar Furlong 11.2 Rufino Bernedo 10.8 Ricardo González 10.7 Eduardo Kucharski González 9.8 Hussein Kamel Montasser 8.8 Eduardo Fiestas 8.7 Alberto Fernández 8.2 FIBA official website EuroBasket.com FIBA Basketball World Cup Page Results FIBA World Championships History WC 1950 on FIBA.com
Serbia men's national basketball team
The Serbian men's national basketball team is controlled by the Basketball Federation of Serbia. Serbia is ranked fourth in the FIBA World Rankings. From 1992 to 2003, the national team played under name of FR Yugoslavia and from 2003 to 2006 under name of Serbia and Montenegro in international competitions. Following the Montenegrin declaration of independence in 2006, Basketball Federation of Serbia retained the place of Basketball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro as a FIBA member. Therefore, all the results and medals from this period are succeeded by the Serbian men's national basketball team. With the start of Yugoslav Wars in 1991 and subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia, the mighty team of Yugoslavia was disbanded; the players were selected from the population of over 23 million people and basketball infrastructure evenly distributed all over the six states which formed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1992, FR Yugoslavia was established, as the federation of two remaining Yugoslav republics Serbia and Montenegro.
Newly established country had less than half the population of former country. The Basketball Federation of FR Yugoslavia became the governing body of basketball in new country. After the adoption of UNSCR 757, the national team was suspended from participating in international tournaments. Due to these sanctions and ongoing war, the national team was prevented from participating at the 1992 Summer Olympics, EuroBasket 1993 and 1994 FIBA World Championship. Without much sponsorship of war-impoverished country, the national team made its comeback to the international scene at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, where the national team won the gold medal after defeating Lithuania in gold-medal game. At the 1996 Summer Olympics the team lost with 69–95 to the United States in gold-medal game; the national team won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1997, 1998 FIBA World Championship, EuroBasket 2001 and bronze medal at the EuroBasket 1999. One of the most notable wins of the Yugoslavian national team came in the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIBA World Championship, when the host nation of the tournament United States was eliminated with 81–78.
The significance of the win was tremendous for the Serbian people in general, as the public in Serbia perceived the United States political leadership responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia and destruction of country's infrastructure and civil victims during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavian national team won the tournament by defeating New Zealand in the semi-finals and Argentina after 84–77 OT win in gold-medal game. In 2002, FR Yugoslavia consisted of Serbia and Montenegro, came to a new agreement regarding continued co-operation, among other changes, promised the end of the name Yugoslavia, since they were part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 4 February 2003, the federal assembly of Yugoslavia created a loose state union—the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; the following years were underwhelming as the national team failed to make the podium of the tournament, after decades of winning medals. At the EuroBasket 2003 it came in 6th place, but due the world champion status, qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece.
However, it was eliminated in the group stage with 1–4 score, finishing in 11th place. The national team participated at the 2004 FIBA Diamond Ball. After two consecutive tournament disappointments, hope for the comeback came at the EuroBasket 2005 where the national team of Serbia and Montenegro was a host nation. Legendary Željko Obradović became national head coach again. However, the national team was eliminated in the play-off stage by France with 71–74 loss, finished in 9th place. Obradović stepped down shortly after the tournament, blamed the bad atmosphere among the team star players for yet another failure; the national team participated at the 2006 FIBA World Championship on a wild card due to the results in the past, on initiative by FIBA prominent administrator Borislav Stanković. However, the national team of Serbia and Montenegro once again failed to impress and finished in 9th place. On 21 May 2006, Montenegrins voted in an independence referendum, with 55.5% supporting independence.
The subsequent Montenegrin proclamation of independence in June 2006 and the Serbian proclamation of independence on 5 June ended the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and thus the last remaining vestiges of the former Yugoslavia. Following the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, national team participated at the EuroBasket 2007 and finished the competition in the group stage with three close losses, it failed to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics, missing the Olympics for the first time after being suspended at the 1992 Summer Olympics. A new generation led by legendary Dušan Ivković returned some of the old glory by taking the silver medal in Eurobasket 2009, fourth place in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, with the youngest team. However, the national team failed to reach the semifinals at the EuroBasket 2011 and EuroBasket 2013, thus way failing to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, missing the second Olympics tournament in a row. Following the EuroBasket 2013, Ivković stepped away from the position and Serbian basketball hall of famer Aleksandar Đorđević stepped in.
Đorđević led the team to three silver medals at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2017 EuroBasket. FIBA World Cup MVP Dejan Bodiroga – 1998 EuroBasket MVP Aleksandar Đorđević – 1997 Predrag Stojaković – 2001 FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team Dejan Bodiroga – 1998 Željko Rebrača – 1998 Predrag Stojaković – 2002 Miloš Teodosić – 2010, 2014 EuroBasket All-Tournament Tea
Yugoslavia national basketball team
The SFR Yugoslavian national basketball team represented Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1992 in international basketball matches and was controlled by the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia. After the World War II, the team improved their rankings and came to be one of dominant forces of the world basketball in the 1970s and the 1980s, along with the United States and Soviet Union, capturing 5 Olympic medals and 8 World Cups, 13 medals in total, along with another 13 on continental level. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, national teams of the successor countries Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia, continued the strong performance in international competitions. Ten FIBA Hall of Fame members emerged from the Yugoslavian national team: Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Ivo Daneu, Mirza Delibašić, Vlade Divac, Dragan Kićanović, Radivoj Korać, Toni Kukoč, Dražen Petrović and Zoran Slavnić. At the Summer Olympic Games, Yugoslavia captured one gold medal, took the silver medal on three occasions and captured the bronze medal once.
At the FIBA World Cup, Yugoslavia captured three gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals. At the EuroBasket, Yugoslavia captured the gold medal five times, were silver medalists on five occasions, captured the bronze medal four times. FIBA World Cup MVP Ivo Daneu – 1967 Ljubodrag Simonović – 1971 Dragan Kićanović – 1974 Dražen Dalipagić – 1978 Dražen Petrović – 1986 Toni Kukoč – 1990 FIBA EuroBasket MVP Radivoj Korać – 1961 Krešimir Ćosić – 1971, 1975 Dražen Dalipagić – 1977 Dražen Petrović – 1989 Toni Kukoč – 1991 FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team Radivoj Korać – 1967 Ivo Daneu – 1967 Krešimir Ćosić – 1970, 1978 Vinko Jelovac – 1974 Dražen Dalipagić – 1978 Dragan Kićanović – 1978, 1982 Dražen Petrović – 1986 Vlade Divac – 1990 Toni Kukoč – 1990 FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team Krešimir Ćosić – 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979 Ivo Daneu – 1969 Dražen Dalipagić – 1975, 1977, 1981 Dragan Kićanović – 1979, 1981 Dražen Petrović – 1985, 1989 Žarko Paspalj – 1989 Dino Rađa – 1989 Vlade Divac – 1991 Toni Kukoč – 1991 Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in EuroBasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament.
The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round, defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match. Yugoslavia's second appearance was at EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow, they dropped an early 27–25 decision against Bulgaria but finished at 3–1 in their preliminary group. In the three-way tie-breaker with Bulgaria and Israel, Yugoslavia ended up in second place to advance to the final round. There, they lost 4 to take 6th place overall in the 17-team tournament. Yugoslavia again advanced to the final round at EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, this time in sole second place with a 3–1 record in the preliminary round pool, their final round performance was riddled with 6 losses in 7 games, but did include the high point of a 52–49 victory over eventual silver medallist Czechoslovakia on Yugoslavia's way to an 8th-place finish of the 18 entrants. Yugoslavia's appearance at the EuroBasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2–1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin.
There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2–5 for 6th place in the tournament. The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s and early 1990s featured what was the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Americans invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such players as Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Predrag Danilović, Žarko Paspalj and Jure Zdovc the country was responsible for a wave of international NBA players in the 1990s. Many of the former Yugoslav players of this era were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the U. S. both in the final. The 1991 team is regarded by Antonello Riva as the best team in European history. For 1992 onwards, as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: see Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team 1947–1950 – Stevica Čolović 1950–1953 – Nebojša Popović 1954–1965 – Aleksandar Nikolić 1965–1972 – Ranko Žeravica 1973–1976 – Mirko Novosel 1977–1978 – Aleksandar Nikolić 1979 – Petar Skansi 1980 – Ranko Žeravica 1981 – Bogdan Tanjević 1982 – Ranko Žeravica 1983 – Josip Gjergja 1984 – Mirko Novosel 1985–1987 – Krešimir Ćosić 1988–1991 – Dušan Ivković After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia in 1991, five new countries were created: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, FR Yugoslavia and Slovenia.
In 2006, Montenegro became an independent nation and Serbia became the legal successor of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and became a FIBA member in 2015. Here is a list of men's national teams on the SFR Yugoslavia area: Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia North Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro Montenegro Serbia Kosovo Slovenia None of these teams is an inheritor of the results the SFR Yugoslavia national basketball team had accomplished. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in
Silver: (1996)
Gold: (1998, 2002)
Gold: (1995, 1997, 2001)
Bronze: (1999)
1992
1996
2000
2004
1994
2006
1993
1999
2001
2003
2005
Yugoslavia (predecessor team)
Serbia (successor team)
Montenegro (successor team)
