NBHHCM Honors 35th Anniversary of Women's Hoops at '76 Olympics

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NBHHCM Honors 35th Anniversary of Women's Hoops at '76 Olympics

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July 19, 2011- On this day July 19, 1976 35-years ago in Montreal, Canada at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games women's basketball became an official Olympic sport.

The NBHHCM (National Basketball & Hip-Hop Culture Month) Foundation would like to salute all the women from around the world that made a contribution as trailblazers to basketball becoming an official Olympic sport at the 1976 Summer Games.

The game of basketball became an Olympic sport 40-years earlier at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. The 1936 games were headlined by the 4 gold medal performance of Jesse Owens.

Team USA defeated Canada 19-8 to win the first-ever Olympic gold medal for basketball.

The Soviet Union dominated the 1976 Summer Olympics and won the first-ever gold medal for basketball. The Soviet National Team was led by the "Wilt Chamberlain of Women's Basketball" Uljana Semjonova who stood 6'11 and wore a men's size 21 shoe.  

The Soviets won their 5-games by an impressive 31.6 scoring margin. They defeated Team USA 112-77 (7/23/76). The 35-point victory margin has extra mystic because today July 19, 2011 is the 35th Anniversary of the first basketball games played by women as an Olympic sport.

The WNBA All-Star Game will be played on July 23, 2011 the 35th Anniversary of the Team USA defeat to the Soviet Union.

The three first-ever Olympic games played on July 19, 1976 were the United States vs. Japan. Japan defeated Team USA 84-71. Team USA would win its first Olympic game the next day on June 20th when they faced Bulgaria and won 95-79.

The Soviet Union defeated Canada 115-51. The 64-point victory margin was the second largest of the 1976 Summer Olympics. The men's Soviet team defeated Japan 129-63 (7/23/76) by 66-points to claim the largest margin of victory of the games.

Bulgaria outlasted Czechoslovakia 67-66 to earn a 1-point victory. This was only women's game of the 1976 Summer Olympics to have a 1-point victory outcome.

Team USA won the silver medal and Bulgaria took home the bronze. Team USA won the tie-breaker over Bulgaria with their first Olympic win over Bulgaria earlier in the tournament.

The NBHHCM Foundation salutes the 35th Anniversary of women's basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Sport Fact:

Team USA won its first gold medal for women's basketball in 1984. They were coached by Pat Summitt the 8-time NCAA Championship and current coach at the University of Tennessee. Summitt was a member of the 1976 Olympic Team.

The United States didn't compete in the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia because of a Presidential boycott by President Jimmy Carter. The boycott was imposed because of the U.S. protest on the Soviet war in Afghanistan.