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
Sri Lanka at the 2012 Summer Olympics by the New Zealand national rugby union team, it was later traced to a diplomatic mistake concerning the participation of long-distance runner Lucien Rosa. Entering the 2012 competition, the most athletes sent by Sri Lanka to a Summer Games was 18 at the 2000 Olympics. Two Sri Lankan athletes had previously won medals, both silver, for their country: hurdler Duncan White in 1948, and sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe in 2000. Following the 2008 Summer Olympics where the country failed to achieve any medals, the Minister of Sports and Public Recreation Gamini Lokuge announced a four-year project involving major sporting competitions to