eli5: In competitions where there is a tie for a specific rank, such as when two participants share the first position, why is the subsequent rank is typically skipped?
In: 4
If a competition has 3 champions, it has 3 champions. Not 4 when two tie gold, or 5 when two tie gold and two tie silver.
Where two tie gold, it was the silver guy who tied with gold, the bronze is still the bronze.
The rankings are for the individuals, not their scores/times/whatever. If two are tied for gold, then the next person is still only third best.
If there are 8 competitors, and two of them tie for second, the next competitor is fourth place because 3 others have finished in front of them. And last place is still 8th, not 7th.
It’s done this way to maintain integrity down the line according to how many opponents finished in front of each competitor.
Because that is their true rank, based on the number of people/teams above them.
Say three people are playing a game. Alice and Bob score 100 points, and Cody scores 80. Cody has the third highest score, so he is ranked third despite no one being in second.
If two people tie for first place, they’re both technically in first and second place. The person ranked third has two people ahead of them, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to be in second place.
If you gave birth to twins and then to another single child after that, would you call the single child your second child just because the first two shared a birthdate?
If two people did better than you, then you came in third place. It doesn’t matter whether the two people ahead of you tied or not.
OK lets use your example, two participants tie for first place.
Now consider the next best person after that. They are the 3rd best person in the contest, since 2 people finished with a better result, so it makes sense for them to come 3rd.
Put another way: yes Bob’s score was the 2nd best score, but 2 people got a better score so Bob’s the 3rd best participant. So he comes 3rd.
Because the person still can in that position even if people ahead tied… like if two people tied for 3rd there are still 4 total people ahead of them, thus they’re 5th.
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