As group play winds down in the women's basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics, attention begins to turn toward the next stage: the knockout rounds, beginning with the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Aug. 7. Several teams have already punched their tickets, while several spots remain up for grabs — and each game has the potential to shift the field. Follow along here to keep up to date with which teams are through and which teams are going home.

A refresher on how elimination works in Olympic basketball

First, let's quickly break down the group phase and knockout rounds. More info available in Basketball 101: Competition Format.

Group phase

Each team will play the other three teams in its group and will earn two points for a win, one point for a loss, and zero points for a loss by forfeit.

At the end of the group phase, the top two teams in each group will automatically advance to the quarterfinals. Additionally, the two best third-place teams will also move on to the quarterfinals. All other teams are eliminated from the competition.

In the event of a tie in the standings between two teams in the same group, head-to-head results will be used as the tiebreaker. In the event of a tie between three or more teams, there is a list of further criteria that will be used to break the tie, starting with the highest point differential in games between the tied teams.

Knockout rounds

The knockout rounds begin with eight teams in the quarterfinals. A random draw will determine the matchups for the quarterfinals, with two important caveats:

  • The two highest-ranked teams will be placed in the same pot and therefore end up on opposite sides of the bracket.
  • Teams from the same group can't be drawn against each other in the quarterfinals.

From there, the tournament follows a standard single-elimination format. In the quarterfinal round, the winners advance to the semifinals and the losers are eliminated. In the semifinal round, the winners advance to the gold medal game and the losers go on to play in the bronze medal game.

Which women's basketball teams have qualified for the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics?

So far, seven teams have clinched a spot in the quarterfinals, leaving just one spot up for grabs.

GROUP QUALIFIED FOR QUARTERFINALS IN CONTENTION OUT OF CONTENTION
A Serbia, Spain China Puerto Rico
B France, Nigeria Australia Canada
C USA, Germany, Belgium   Japan

 

Path to quarterfinals for each team

Here's where things stand in each group, as well as the path to first, second and third for each team.

Group A

This one's easy: Spain beat Serbia for first place on Saturday morning, while China beat Puerto Rico to secure third place. Belgium has the point differential edge on the Chinese, who now have to hope that the third-place finisher in Group B (likely Australia) finishes with a point differential below -1. 

Group B

France is through after a 2-0 start, as is Nigeria after an impressive win over Canada on Sunday morning. Australia now must beat the French to have a chance to move on; its -8 point differential is below China (-1) and Belgium (0), which means finishing third on four points won't be good enough.

Group C 

Group C is as straightforward as Group A: The U.S. and Germany are moving on, with the winner of that showdown finishing first and the loser second. Belgium needed to beat Japan in its final game by at least 27 to edge China on point differential and secure a third-place spot, and sure enough, that's what it did.