# Why does gold=/=silver=/=bronze? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2000, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723 "2000-09-27T07:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@EB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EB)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/1 "2000-09-27T07:42:38Z")
Im looking at the Olympic medals tally at [http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/medals.html](http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/medals.html) At the bottom they have the total number of medal awarded. At the moment they have listed: 196 gold medals 194 silver medals 210 bronze medals How can there possibly not be the same number of gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded? Ties? Some events not finished? I have problems with both of those theories, but haven’t taken the time to root through all the events to find the discrepancies. -EB ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/2 "2000-09-27T08:35:24Z")
There was at least one tie for a gold in a swimming event. They awarded two golds and no silvers there. I think there was also a tie for bronze in a swimming event. They awarded a gold, a silver and two bronzes. Also, for some reason or other, they award two bronzes for every weight class in judo. That about covers it. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/3 "2000-09-27T08:36:51Z")
The tie for gold was in the men’s 50m freestyle, and the tie for bronze was in the women’s 100m freestyle. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/4 "2000-09-27T08:58:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lance Turbo \* > \*\*The tie for gold was in the men’s 50m freestyle, and the tie for bronze was in the women’s 100m freestyle. \*\* Why don’t they have tiebreakers? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/5 "2000-09-27T13:39:56Z")
They don’t have tiebreakers because they don’t want to deny someone the opportunity to go home with a medal. They tied for third; they deserve one. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/6 "2000-09-27T13:49:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lance Turbo \* > \*\*The tie for gold was in the men’s 50m freestyle, and the tie for bronze was in the women’s 100m freestyle. \*\* If they gave two gold medals, why would they give a silver also? Why not just two golds and a bronze? If they gave two golds, a silver, and a bronze as well, then they gave a medal to the fourth-place finalist. That does not sound right. Why would they do that? Oh, I just figured it out. Just because there was a total of 196 gold medals and 194 silver, that does not mean that they gave out a silver medal when there was a tie for first. It only means that there were more first-place ties than there were second-place ties. As Rosanne Rosanadana would say, “Never mind!” ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/7 "2000-09-27T13:59:33Z")
Some had their madelas revoked for failing drug tests - I think that would affect the total as well. Or do they re-distribute the medals when that happens? ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Malik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@Joe\_Malik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Malik)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/8 "2000-09-27T14:23:10Z")
FTR: If two people tie for first and then I hit the tape, I’m in **third** place, not second, i.e. there were two people who finished ahead of me. ---
**Author:** ![mealypotaotes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/54ee81/32.png) [@mealypotaotes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mealypotaotes)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/9 "2000-09-27T15:03:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*Some had their madelas revoked for failing drug tests - I think that would affect the total as well. Or do they re-distribute the medals when that happens? > \*\* Yes, the medals are re-disributed. Was in Seinfeld who said that winning a gold is god, because you’re number one, and winning a bronze is good, because at least you won someting, but a silver just means that not only did you lose, but you were the Best of the Losers, nobody is a better loser than you. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/10 "2000-09-27T17:06:32Z")
In the men’s 50 freestyle, there were two golds and the third place swimmer won bronze. In boxing, there are always two bronze medalists as there is no bout for third place between the losing semifinalists. Some sports have different tiebreakers for first place, than they do for second or third place. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/11 "2000-09-27T18:40:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keeve \* > \*\*If they gave two gold medals, why would they give a silver also? \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe Malik \* > \*\*FTR: If two people tie for first and then I hit the tape, I’m in **third** place, not second, i.e. there were two people who finished ahead of me. \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ME \* > \*\*They awarded two golds and no silvers there. \*\* Please try to pay attention. ---
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/12 "2000-09-27T21:13:41Z")
In some competitions (boxing, for example) the winner of the final bout wins gold, the loser silver, and each semi-final loser gets bronze. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/13 "2000-09-28T00:30:35Z")
What I want to know, is HOW MANY of each medal to they print up? I mean, each medal is event specific, right? It says, at the very least, the type of sport it was in. So, for the gold medal tie in swimming, they gave out 2 50m Freestyle golds, or whatever specific event it was in. Does this mean that they have 2 or 3 of each type of medal sitting around, just in case? Sounds awfully expensive… ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-gold-silver-bronze/34723/14 "2000-09-28T05:05:53Z")
I think they make more than enough medals. If you have some left over, you can melt down the metal in them and recoup some of your costs. I wonder if the IOC gets the molds for the medals to make duplicates for people who have lost their original medals.