The basketball game with the ball that needs to be brought to someone else's backboard and sent to the ring was born over 120 years ago in North America. During this time, she went from a modest fun of students to a magnificent sports show. Now not only amateurs, but also professional players with multimillion-dollar contracts participate in tournaments. And millions of fans are watching them.
Peach basket
December 21, 1891. Springfield, USA. James Naismith, a 30-year-old physical education teacher at a college, came up with a way to diversify students' monotonous activities. The resourceful young man brought two peach baskets to the gym and hung them on the balcony railing. Then he divided the students into two groups and gave them a soccer ball, offering to play, throwing it into baskets. This almost comic match became the birthday of basketball (from the English ball - a ball, basket - a basket). And Naismith himself went down in the history and chronicle of the sport as a "founding father" and the developer of the first rules for men's basketball.
1892. American woman Senda Berenson is the author of the rules for women's basketball.
1893. A net appeared on the iron ring of the basketball backboard. Another name is, again, a basket.
1898. USA. The first professional organization, the National Basketball League, was born. The matches lasted for five years.
1904. St. Louis. A demonstration tournament was held at the Olympic Games with the participation of several American teams.
The light of the "Lighthouse"
1906. St. Petersburg. The first basketball team in Russia, named "Mayak", was created.
1924. The USSR Championship No. 1 among men was held. The winner was the Moscow team, who outplayed the Ural team. A similar women's tournament 13 years later was won by Dynamo Moscow.
June 18, 1932. Geneva. FIBA, the International Federation of Amateur Basketball, was founded. Its first members were eight countries - Argentina, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland. The international rules of the game were also approved at the congress. In the same year, the tournament for women's national teams was held for the first time.
1936. Berlin. Basketball is included in the competition program of the Summer Olympics, held in the capital of Nazi Germany. In the final, the US team beat Canada 19: 8. The guest of honor at the tournament was James Naismith.
1947. The Soviet Union joined FIBA. The USSR men's team won its debut tournament in Prague - the European Championship. In the final, she defeated the national team of Czechoslovakia with a score of 56:37.
League of millionaires
August 3, 1949. USA. The country has created the existing one to this day, and in the status of the strongest and richest league in the world, the NBA, the National Basketball Association.
1950. Argentina. The first world championship among men took place. The gold went to the owners of the site. In the final match, the Argentines sensationally beat the 1948 Olympic champions from the United States - 64:50.
Early 1950s. USA. The first matches were recorded in street basketball - 3x3 streetball and one ring. Now it is practically an independent and very popular sport, including in Russia.
1953. Chile. The first world championship was also held by women. Gold medals for the US national team.
1958 Debuted in the men's European Cup. The winner was the USSR champion Riga SKA, who outplayed the Bulgarian Akademik - 86:81 and 84:71.
Glory to basketball
1959. Springfield. In the homeland of the sport, the Basketball Hall of Fame was created, named after James Naismith. On February 17, 1968, it was opened to the public. “Exhibits” are famous players, coaches, referees and other people who have made an important contribution to the development and popularization of the game. So, on May 11, 1992, the former defender of Sverdlovsk Uralmash and Moscow CSKA, Olympic champion-1972 Sergey Belov was included in the Hall of Fame. Later, the famous Soviet coach Alexander Gomelsky and the 1988 Olympic champions Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marchiulionis, who played under his leadership in the USSR national team, were included in it. The two-time Olympic champion (1976, 1980) as part of the Soviet national team Ulyana Semyonova was included in the lists of the Hall members.
1960. Riga. Under the leadership of Alexander Gomelsky, the local SKA is setting a still unbeaten record: winning the Champions Cup / Euroleague for the third time in a row.
An association
1976. Montreal. The first Olympic tournament among women's national teams took place. The USSR national team, led by the 210-centimeter center Ulyana Semyonova, from the then best club team in Europe, Riga TTT, became the champion of the Games. In the decisive game, the Soviet team defeated the American women with a score of 112: 77.
1989. Munich. At the FIBA Congress, a decision was made on the participation of professionals in all its competitions, including the Olympic Games. The word “amateur” has disappeared from the name of the federation.
1992. Bari (Italy). The final number 1 of the women's Euroleague, the tournament of the strongest club teams of the continent, has passed. The Spanish "Ros Casares" beat the last USSR champions from Kiev "Dynamo" - 66:56. The Russian club was able to win the Euroleague 11 years later. This was done by UMMC from Yekaterinburg, who beat French Valenciennes in the final - 82:80.
2002. Bologna. The first-ever final match of the united men's Euroleague took place. The Greek "Panathinaikos" with a score of 89:83 defeated the Italian "Virtus".
April 30, 2006. Prague. For the first time, a team from Russia has won a men's Euroleague tournament. CSKA Moscow defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv - 73:69.
