On Aug. 4, United States sprinter Noah Lyles and Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson seemed to tie for gold in the men’s 100-metre final with a time of 9.79.
Yet later, Lyles was awarded the gold medal because he beat Thompson by 0.005 of a second (9.784 to 9.
789). Approximately a week prior, German swimmer Melvin Imoudu and Italian swimmer Ludovico Blu Art Viberti took part in a swim-off for the final spot in the men’s 100-metre breaststroke after both athletes tied with a time of 59.38.
Imoudu clinched the final spot by a mere 0.21 seconds. Both the swimmers and runners tied at the hundredth of a second — so why were the runners separated at the thousandth and the swimmers were not? Swim-offs, ties and dead heats are common and can lead to double gold, silver or bronze medals during the Olympics.
For instance, Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim shared a gold medal in high jump at the Tokyo Olympics. Some viewers will celebrate these accomplishments and others will bemoan the lack of a clear winner. But very few will understand why ties happen, and why they should happen more often.
The dead heat problem Humans have been trying to develop timing and photo-finish equipment that will solve dead heats for decades. Contemporary photo-finish systems, such as those in use at the Paris Games, are capable of recording athletic performances to the 10-thousandth of a second. Omega, the official Olympic provider for timing and photo-finish equipment, are using.