1956 Olympic basketball

United States continued their domination of Olympic basketball as they claimed their fourth straight gold medal at the 1956 Games in Melbourne thanks to the iconic tandem of Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

The Americans beat Japan by 58 points, Thailand by 72 and the Philippines by 68 points in the group stage before rolling Bulgaria by 41 points, Brazil by 62 and then Soviet Union by 30 points to reach the Semi-Finals undefeated.
USA blasted Uruguay by 63 points to reach the gold medal game, where they beat Soviet Union again this time 89-55 for the gold.

The USA team's leading scorer was Russell at 14.1 points per game while Jones averaged 10.9 points. Russell and Jones had teamed together to lead the University of San Francisco to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. Russell actually could have turned professional and skipped the Olympics, but the center wanted to experience the Olympic Games.