| Date | 6 – 20 August 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Arena Carioca 1, Parque Olímpico da Barra, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro / Arena da Juventude, Parque Olímpico de Deodoro, Deodoro, Rio de Janeiro | |
| Participants | 140 from 12 countries | |
| Format | Round-robin pools advance teams to classification matches. | |
The USA men were favored to win the gold medal in Rio, but the USA women were “really” favored to win. The US had won every Olympic gold medal since 1984, with the lone exception of 1992, when they won bronze. They had won 7 of 10 World Championships since 1979, winning in both 2010 and 2014. Like the men’s team, the US women now had a permanent national coach in University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, and since he had been installed as national coach in 2009, the USA women had been even more dominant.
The USA women scampered through the tournament, never facing a serious challenge, starting out with a 65-point victory over Senegal in group play. In group B, their closest match was a win over Serbia, 110-84. The other group B qualifiers for the knockout rounds were Spain, Canada, and Serbia. In group A, Australia also won all their games, and were joined by France, Turkey, and Japan in the elimination rounds.
Japan had the misfortune to be drawn against the Americans in the quarter-final, losing by 46 points. The other semi-finalists were Spain, France, and Serbia, who upset Australia in the quarters, 73-71. France went down to the USA in the semis, 86-67, while Spain handled Serbia easily. The final was no contest, with the United States winning their sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal, 101-72, over Spain. The strength of the American team can be seen by the fact that the 2015 WNBA MVP, Elena Delle Donne, usually came off the bench. Among the US players, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and Tamika Catchings won their fourth Olympic gold medals, equaling the mark held by former US players Teresa Edwards and Lisa Leslie.
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Round-robin pools. |
| Date | 6 – 13 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Round-robin pools. |
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | AUS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 400-345 | ||
| 2 | France | FRA | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 344-343 | ||
| 3 | Turkey | TUR | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 324-325 | ||
| 4 | Japan | JPN | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 386-378 | ||
| 5 | Belarus | BLR | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 347-361 | ||
| 6 | Brazil | BRA | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 335-384 |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 06 Aug 12:00 | France 13 | FRA | 55 – 39 | Turkey 14 | TUR | |
| Match #2 | 06 Aug 17:30 | Australia 15 | AUS | 84 – 66 | Brazil 16 | BRA | |
| Match #3 | 06 Aug 19:45 | Japan 17 | JPN | 77 – 73 | Belarus 18 | BLR | |
| Match #4 | 07 Aug 17:30 | Australia 19 | AUS | 61 – 56 | Turkey 20 | TUR | |
| Match #5 | 07 Aug 19:45 | France 21 | FRA | 73 – 72 | Belarus 22 | BLR | |
| Match #6 | 08 Aug 17:30 | Japan 23 | JPN | 82 – 66 | Brazil 24 | BRA | |
| Match #7 | 09 Aug 12:15 | Australia 25 | AUS | 89 – 71 | France 26 | FRA | |
| Match #8 | 09 Aug 15:30 | Belarus 27 | BLR | 65 – 63 | Brazil 28 | BRA | |
| Match #9 | 09 Aug 17:45 | Turkey 29 | TUR | 76 – 62 | Japan 30 | JPN | |
| Match #10 | 11 Aug 12:15 | Turkey 31 | TUR | 74 – 71 | Belarus 32 | BLR | |
| Match #11 | 11 Aug 15:30 | France 33 | FRA | 74 – 64 | Brazil 34 | BRA | |
| Match #12 | 11 Aug 17:45 | Australia 35 | AUS | 92 – 86 | Japan 36 | JPN | |
| Match #13 | 13 Aug 12:15 | Australia 37 | AUS | 74 – 66 | Belarus 38 | BLR | |
| Match #14 | 13 Aug 15:30 | Turkey 39 | TUR | 79 – 76 | Brazil 40 | BRA | |
| Match #15 | 13 Aug 17:45 | Japan 41 | JPN | 79 – 71 | France 42 | FRA |
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Round-robin pools. |
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | USA | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 520-316 | ||
| 2 | Spain | ESP | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 387-333 | ||
| 3 | Canada | CAN | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 340-347 | ||
| 4 | Serbia | SRB | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 385-406 | ||
| 5 | People's Republic of China | CHN | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 371-428 | ||
| 6 | Senegal | SEN | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 309-482 |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 06 Aug 14:15 | Canada 43 | CAN | 90 – 68 | People's Republic of China 44 | CHN | |
| Match #2 | 07 Aug 12:00 | United States 45 | USA | 121 – 56 | Senegal 46 | SEN | |
| Match #3 | 07 Aug 14:15 | Spain 47 | ESP | 65 – 59 | Serbia 48 | SRB | |
| Match #4 | 08 Aug 12:00 | United States 49 | USA | 103 – 63 | Spain 50 | ESP | |
| Match #5 | 08 Aug 14:15 | Canada 51 | CAN | 71 – 67 | Serbia 52 | SRB | |
| Match #6 | 08 Aug 19:45 | People's Republic of China 53 | CHN | 101 – 64 | Senegal 54 | SEN | |
| Match #7 | 10 Aug 12:15 | Spain 55 | ESP | 89 – 68 | People's Republic of China 56 | CHN | |
| Match #8 | 10 Aug 15:30 | United States 57 | USA | 110 – 84 | Serbia 58 | SRB | |
| Match #9 | 10 Aug 17:45 | Canada 59 | CAN | 68 – 58 | Senegal 60 | SEN | |
| Match #10 | 12 Aug 12:15 | Serbia 61 | SRB | 80 – 72 | People's Republic of China 62 | CHN | |
| Match #11 | 12 Aug 15:30 | United States 63 | USA | 81 – 51 | Canada 64 | CAN | |
| Match #12 | 12 Aug 17:45 | Spain 65 | ESP | 97 – 43 | Senegal 66 | SEN | |
| Match #13 | 14 Aug 12:15 | United States 67 | USA | 105 – 62 | People's Republic of China 68 | CHN | |
| Match #14 | 14 Aug 15:30 | Serbia 69 | SRB | 95 – 88 | Senegal 70 | SEN | |
| Match #15 | 14 Aug 17:45 | Spain 71 | ESP | 73 – 60 | Canada 72 | CAN |
| Date | 16 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 16 Aug 22:15 | Serbia 73 | SRB | 73 – 71 | Australia 74 | AUS | |
| Match #2 | 16 Aug 18:45 | Spain 75 | ESP | 64 – 62 | Turkey 76 | TUR | |
| Match #3 | 16 Aug 14:30 | United States 77 | USA | 110 – 64 | Japan 78 | JPN | |
| Match #4 | 16 Aug 11:00 | France 79 | FRA | 68 – 63 | Canada 80 | CAN |
| Date | 18 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the final round. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 18 Aug 19:00 | Spain 81 | ESP | 68 – 54 | Serbia 82 | SRB | |
| Match #2 | 18 Aug 15:00 | United States 83 | USA | 86 – 67 | France 84 | FRA |
| Date | 20 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Medal round. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 20 Aug 15:30 | United States 85 | USA | 101 – 72 | Spain 86 | ESP | |
| Match 3/4 | 20 Aug 11:30 | Serbia 87 | SRB | 70 – 63 | France 88 | FRA |