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 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.