篮球(basketball)，是奥运会核心比赛项目，是以手为中心的对抗性体育运动。篮球运动起源于美国。1891年12月21日，由美国马萨诸塞州斯普林菲尔德基督教青年会训练学校体育教师詹姆士·奈史密斯发明。

【趣味英语-篮球运动的起源】Basketball 篮球

Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian who was teaching at Springfield College in Massachusetts, needed to come up with a game to entertain the school’s rugby[英式橄榄球] and football players during the winter months. So he grabbed a peach basket he found in the janitor’s[看门人] closet of the school and hung it on a railing[扶手] about ten feet from the floor. Every time the players made a shot[投射] though, they had to take down the basket and grab the ball, which became really annoying. Dr. Naismith decided to cut a hole in the basket so the ball would go straight through without them having to dig it out all the time.

The sport was an instant[立即的] success and the popularity of this new game quickly grew. Although Naismith never saw the game develop into the spectacular game we know these days, he had the honor to witness basketball become an Olympic sport at the 1936 Games held in Berlin.

在(美国)马萨诸塞州斯普林菲尔德学院教书的加拿大人詹姆斯·奈史密斯博士需要想出一种游戏，在冬季给本校的英式橄榄球和足球运动员助兴。他在学校门卫的衣柜里发现了一个用来装桃的篮子，于是将它挂在离地约10英尺(3米)的扶手上。可是每当球员们投中了篮子，都不得不把篮子取下来才能捡到球，非常麻烦。于是奈史密斯博士决定在篮子底部开一个洞，让球直接穿过篮子掉下来，这就不用总是伸手去掏篮子了。

这种运动马上大受欢迎，迅速风靡起来。虽然奈史密斯无法看到篮球发展成今天这种热闹景象，但他还是荣幸地看到它成为1936年柏林奥运会的比赛项目。