How is it possible for a country to win a half medal in the Olympics?

Question

I was looking at the medal counts for the United States for all the summer games since 1896, the first Olympiad. And it said that in the 1900 games in Paris, we had 14.5 silver and 15.5 bronze medals. How is this possible?

http://www.nbcolympics.com/countries/country=USA/medals/alltime/byyear.html

Answer 1

We tied of course

Answer 2

If two people tie...

Answer 3

Some sports, such as Tug Of War, Sailing, Tennis, and many other team sports, had teams made up of two or more countries that competed together in the early Olympics.  In those instances, some places count it as half a medal for each country.  Others, including the IOC, have created a special category for mixed teams and do not include those medals in either country's medal count.

For example, in 1900, mixed teams including competitors from the US and Great Britain won the bronze medal in the Mixed Doubles Tennis Competition and a mixed team comprised of competitors from France and the US won the Silver medal in Men's Doubles.

Many sports, including Boxing, Wrestling, and Judo award two Bronze medals.  These are counted as full medals for each country as are duplicate medals awarded in the case of a tie.

Answer 4

Tie