Your Guide to Tiebreakers in Paris

The margin for victory in Paris can come down to inches, kilograms, and milliseconds. But what happens when two athletes are tied at the end of competition? 

Tiebreakers have a precedent in the final heats as recently as 2020, when the high jump gold medal in Tokyo was ultimately shared by two jumpers. It wasn’t always this way. A change in the rulebook in 2009 allowed competitors to make a mutual choice: share a winning jump, or battle in a jump-for-jump faceoff until one athlete was left standing. 

Not surprisingly, tiebreakers for each sport have detailed rules that explain how to determine a champion. What is surprising is that each tiebreaker can look slightly different, following checklists of outcomes that can look downright improbable — but never impossible. We’re taking a look at the tiebreaking procedures for some of your favorite events.

Swimming: For The Team

Let’s start with qualifying heats and semifinals: For individual events of 200m or less, ties for the last qualification or reserve position are broken by swim-offs. In other words, the swimmers get back in the pool and square off. However, in events longer than 200m and in all relays, all tied athletes or teams advance to compete in the final, with a maximum of 10 lanes. That’s one stacked field. If more than three swimmers or teams are tied for the last qualification place, a swim-off may be held. 

Long Jump: Next Up

In the long jump final, competitors have six attempts to jump their furthest distance. During competitions, all valid attempts that aren’t fouls (i.e., jumps that have illegal landings or that begin beyond the foul line) are recorded, but only the best jump of each competitor counts toward the final result. If two competitors tie with their longest jump, their next-longest legal jump is used as the tiebreaker. 

Weightlifting: Get There First

Weightlifting is comprised of two events: the snatch, and the clean and jerk. From the minute lifters step onto the platform, they get 60 seconds to complete their attempt. They have three attempts per round to lift the most weight as they can. The final result is determined by adding each competitor’s best snatch attempt with their best clean and jerk attempt to achieve a combined total. The lifter with the highest combined total is the winner. In the case of a tie, the competitor who lifts the total weight first receives the higher ranking. 

Pole Vault: Try and Try Again 

The winner of the event is the vaulter who successfully clears the highest height. In the event of a tie, the vaulter with the fewest failures at the height is the winner. If the tie remains, the winner is the vaulter who produces the fewest failures throughout the entire competition. If the tied athletes remain tied, the winner is decided by a jump-off. Each jumper has one attempt per height. The bar is lowered if the vaulters fail. The bar is raised if the vaulters succeed. This process continues until only one jumper succeeds at one height. 

Wrestling: In a Very Particular Order

First some distinctions between Greco-Roman and Freestyle. In Greco-Roman, a wrestler may not attack his opponent below the waist, nor use his or her own legs to trip, lift or execute other holds. In Freestyle, the arms and legs are used to execute holds. If the wrestlers are tied in either a Greco-Roman match or a Freestyle match, the winner is declared using an exhausting list of criteria, following a descending order of priority:

• Whomever scored the most points on a single hold
• Whomever had the fewest number of cautions
• Whomever scored the last technical point in the match (this is the final tiebreaker in Freestyle wrestling)
• Whomever is deemed to be the most active wrestler last in the match (this is the final tiebreaker in a Greco-Roman match)