With the wins by Argentina (over Brazil) and the United States (over Puerto Rico) in the 2007 Tournament of the Americas, two more berths to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing have now been determined.

Argentina and the United States have joined Afrobasket Champions Angola, Oceania Champions Australia, host nation China, surprising Asian-Champions Iran, and 2006 World Champions Spain. So far, there has been no real surprises other than Iran defeating Lebanon in the Asia Championships (China did not field their A-Team as they were the host team and earned an automatic berth).

Seven of the twelve teams have been determined for the 2008 Olympic tournament. With the upcoming EuroBasket to determine two more national teams to represent Europe.

So how does FIBA detemine which twelve teams qualify for the Olympics? I have the following breakdown:

– Host Country (1): China
– 2006 World Champions (1): Spain
– Asia Championship (1): Iran
– Afrobasket (1): Angola
– Oceania Championship (1): Australia
– Americas Championship (2): USA and Argentina
– Eurobasket (2): TBD
– World Olympic Qualifying (3): TBD

After Eurobasket 2007, there will three remaining wild card spots that need to be determined by another qualifying tournament to be held in July 2008. This qualifier will include twelve teams from around the world that placed in varying positions (2-5th place) from each regional championships.

Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Korea, Lebanon, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico have already qualified for this tournament, with the final four spots to be determined by the Eurobasket runners-up that place 3-6, unless Spain places in the top-two, then it will be the teams that finish in places 4-7.