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?

Question

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

Answer 1

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?