Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics Basketball contests at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Competitions were held at the Wukesong Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. The United States claimed the gold medals in both the Men's and Women's competitions. Basketball players that carried their flags at the opening ceremony were Yao Ming (for the People's Republic of China), Šarūnas Jasikevičius (for Lithuania), Dirk Nowitzki (for Germany), Andrei Kirilenko (for the Russian Federation), and Manu Ginóbili (for Argentina). Two sets of medals were awarded in the following events: An NOC may enter
Vanuatu at the 2008 Summer Olympics did not accompany the delegation and arrived in China at different times. None of the three Vanuatuan Olympians progressed past the first round in their events, and thus did not earn any medals. Vanuatu has participated in the Olympics since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea; its Olympic committee (VASANOC) was founded a year earlier. Vanuatu's appearance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, thus, marked its sixth appearance in the summer Olympics. Although Vanuatu's earlier Olympic appearances were primarily characterized by people participating in athletics (with the exception of the 2000 Summer Olympics, which included an archer), the