Men's Competition

12 teams qualified for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in basketball. The 12 teams were selected based on various regional rules set forth by the International Olympics Committee. The teams are divided into 2 groups. Athens 2004 Group A has China, New Zealand, Italy, Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro, and Spain. Athens 2004 Group B has the United States, Puerto Rico, Lithuania, Greece, Angola, and Australia.

The first round (the preliminaries) will be a round-robin style tournament in which each country plays the other 5 teams in their group. The 4 teams from each group with the most victories will advance to the second round.

In the second round (the quarterfinals), the highest ranked country (based on number of wins) from each group will play the lowest ranked country from their respective group. The second and third ranked teams will play against each other.

In the third round (the semifinals), the winners of the games in the quarterfinals will play against each other, according to their respective groups.

The two countries that win in their respective groups play against each other for the Gold and Silver Medals. The two losing countries will play for the Bronze Medal.

Women's Competition

The format for the women's competition is much easier to follow than the men's. 6 countries will play a straight round-robin tournament against all the other teams (so each team plays 5 games). The Gold Medal goes to the team with the most wins, the Silver Medal to the team with the second most wins, and the Bronze Medal to the team with the third most wins. However, if 2 teams have the same number of wins, the medal will go to the team that won the head-to-head match.