How basketball works at the Olympics:

• There are 12 teams in both the men's and women's competitions. Both feature two groups of six teams.

• The men's draw is (with three places to be confirmed at Olympic qualifying tournament):

Group A: Argentina, France, Tunisia, United States, Qualifier 1, Qualifier 2.

Group B: Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain, Spain, Qualifier 3.

• The women's draw is:

Group A: Angola, China, United States, Czech Republic, Croatia, Turkey

Group B: Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, France

• In the group stage, each country plays every other team in their group once.

• At the completion of the group stage, the top four teams from each group progress to the second round. From that point on the tournament becomes a knock-out competition.

• The top qualifying team crosses over to play the fourth-ranked team from the opposite group. The second-ranked team faces the third ranked team from the opposite group.

• The four winners progress to the semi-finals. The two winners then meet in the gold medal match, while the two defeated nations play off for the bronze medal.

Competition format:

• Basketball is played in four periods of 10 minutes each at the Olympics.

• Teams have five players on the court at any one time.

• Five-minute overtime periods follow if a game is tied at the end of four quarters.

• Teams score two points from inside the three-point line, three points from outside the three-point line and one point for each successful free-throw.