News The 2015 FIBA EuroBasket Women Championship ended on Sunday (28) in Budapest (Hungary), with Serbia taking the championship and a berth at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games In the final match of the tournament, Serbia defeated France by 76-68 and took to the podium for the first time in its European Championship history Behind second-placed France, Spain came in third after beating 4th-placed Belarus by 74-58 Serbia joins the USA – winner of the 2014 World Cup – as the only two teams to have already qualified for the Rio 2016 women’s basketball competition (Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games here) Top scorer in the final match with 25 points, Serbia's Ana Dabovic was voted the "most valuable player" in the championship France, Spain, Belarus and Turkey (the last of which closed the tournament in 5th place after a 68-66 victory over Russia in overtime,) will have another chance to qualify for the 2016 Games via the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, to be held in June 2016 For the Russians, the European Championship proved to be a disappointment Finishing down the leaderboard in 6th place, the country’s women's basketball team is out of the Olympics for the first time since they boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games (when the country was still part of the Soviet Union) Their failure to qualify is a significant blow for the team with an illustrious history The Russians are the only non-American side to win an Olympic gold medal – at Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980 (as the Soviet Union) and at Barcelona 1992 (as the Unified Team, consisting of 12 former Soviet republics) The Russians won bronze at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 but missed out on the medals in London in 2012, finishing in 4th place In 2014, the country also failed to qualify for the World Championships This year’s EuroBasket Women’s Championship featured 20 countries divided into four groups in the first phase, of which the top three teams in each went through to the second round The next phase was played in two groups with the top four teams from each going forward to the quarterfinals From thenceforth, the matches became play-offs In the previous edition of the Championship in 2013, the hosts France finished in 2nd place (the same as this year), with Spain in 1st and Turkey in 3rd In the men’s category, the Americans have also secured an Olympic berth by (coincidentally) defeating Serbia to win the 2014 World Cup The men’s European Championship takes place in September, with the two top-placed teams guaranteed spots at the Olympic Games Rio2016 com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC) Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota