It was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.[3]
The United States won the title for the ninth overall and seventh consecutive time by defeating Japan in the final, while France secured the bronze medal with a win over Serbia.[4][5]
The twelve teams were split into three groups of four teams. The teams placed first and second in each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter-finals. The eight teams were divided in a group D (best 4 teams) and a group E (remaining 4 teams). The quarter-final pairings were drawn on 2 August after the end of the group phase. After that, a knockout system was used.[6]
Each NOC was limited to one team per tournament. Each team had a roster of twelve players, one of which could be a naturalized player.
Draw
The draw was held at the FIBA Headquarters in Mies, Switzerland on 2 February 2021:[7][8]
The 12 teams were divided into four pots of three teams based on their FIBA Women's World Ranking. The three groups were formed by drawing one team from each pot. Two teams from the same continent could not be placed into the same group, with the exception of European teams, where up to two teams could be in the same group.
Due to scheduling requests from the International Olympic Committee, defending champions the United States and hosts Japan were drawn into either Group B or C.
In the preliminary round, teams receive 2 classification points for a win, 1 classification point for a loss, and 0 classification points for a forfeit.[12]
Source: TOCOG and FIBA Rules for classification: 1) classification points; 2) head-to-head results; 3) head-to-head game points difference; 4) head-to-head number of game points scored.
Source: TOCOG and FIBA Rules for classification: 1) classification points; 2) head-to-head results; 3) head-to-head game points difference; 4) head-to-head number of game points scored. (H) Hosts
Source: TOCOG and FIBA Rules for classification: 1) classification points; 2) head-to-head results; 3) head-to-head game points difference; 4) head-to-head number of game points scored.
Source: TOCOG and FIBA Rules for classification: 1) classification points; 2) game points difference; 3) number of game points scored; 4) FIBA ranking.
Knockout stage
Ranking
A draw after the preliminary round decided the pairings, where a seeded team played an unseeded team. The draw was held after the last group stage match on 2 August.[13] Teams qualified were divided into two pots:
Pot D comprised the three first-placed teams from the group phase, along with the best second-placed team.
Pot E comprised the two remaining second-placed teams, along with the two best third-placed teams.
Draw principles:
Each game pairing had one team from Pot D and one team from Pot E.
Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other in the quarterfinals.
The second-placed team from Pot D could not be drawn against the third-placed teams from Pot E.[14]
