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
Azerbaijan at the 2012 Summer Olympics bearer at the opening ceremony. Azerbaijan left London with a total of 10 medals (2 gold, 2 silver, and 6 bronze), which doubled the nation's overall medal count at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This was also the nation's most successful Olympics, winning the largest number of medals received at a single games. More than half of these medals were awarded in wrestling, including gold medals won by Toghrul Asgarov and Sharif Sharifov from the men's freestyle events. Azerbaijan sent two swimmers to the London games, by Universality places. Butterfly swimmer Yevgeniy Lazuka previously competed under Belarus in Beijing.