What would happen if phelps and cavic would have literally tied in the 100m butterfly?

Question

they litrally touched at the same time. i think cavics time was 50.83 and phelps was 50.82 im not sure but what if they both had the same time and they reviewed it and they did tie. would they both get gold or would they have a swim off or what?????

Answer 1

i don't know what they do at the Olympics, but at our state and region meets, there is another race, just between the two of them at the very end of the last day.  

Answer 2

100m butterfly Bejing 2008 Phelps vs. Cavic? Tie?

I believe the result should have been a tie. Ties have happened before in the olympics so why not now? One camera angle points out that cavic won then the other points out that phelps won. Plus, one can argue that cavic did not press against the sensor hard enough, while phelps was in butterfly motion and his hands slammed on the sensor. In addition, if you don't call a tie between narrowest possible margin then what can be a tie? No swimmer will EVER touch the sensors at the same time.

Answer 3

From what I've seen on the underwater shots it really looked like they tied, but to answer you're question I think they would both get gold, nobody would get silver and 3rd would get bronze.

Answer 4

They both would have gotten Gold, and the Bronze medalist would have gotten Silver (because he would then have come in 2nd instead of third) and Ian Crocker who came in 4th would have gotten the Bronze.

Answer 5

A tie has, in fact, happened before. Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer (both from the US) tied in the 100 m freestyle in 1984 with a time of 55.92. Both were awarded a gold medal. The third person to hit the wall got the bronze. No one was awarded the silver that year.

Even though the times were the same to the hundredth, those women may not have "literally tied". The timing systems used can measure to the thousandth of a second, but for official times and placing, they round to the nearest hundredth of a second.