Sports which award four medals at Summer Olympics

There are few sports disciplines where four medals are awarded instead of the traditional three.

The Paris Olympics 2024 has already produced some unforgettable memories over the first five days and more than 100 medals have been distributed amongst the athletes. Olympics is where athletes strive to win a medal for their country, with everyone eyeing the lucrative gold medal that make them the ‘Olympic Champion’.

In most sports, there are only three medals up for grabs for the athletes. These are the gold, silver and bronze medals. That is why the competitiveness, especially for single athlete events, are so cut-throat because of the limited amount of silverware. With that being said, there are also some events in the Summer Games that afford to give away more than just three medals.

These are mostly for contact sports; the organizers have had to make slight change to ensure that all the premier athletes get their deserved medals. Here, we look at all the events that award four medals in the Summer Games.

Sports that award four medals at Summer Olympics

Wrestling

Wrestling is a major event and has been a part of games since its inaugural edition in 1896. It is also one of the rare sports where four different medals are awarded after the end of the events. This is because the wrestling events of different weight categories are a knockout-based format in which the losing semi-finalists are thought to be of the same standing.

As a result, the losing semi-final in both the semi-final matches are both given one bronze medal each. This is done because the fighters are exhausted after the semi-final clashes and there isn’t much time for recovery.

Also Read: India at Paris Olympics 2024: Wrestling schedule, squad, live streaming details

The IOC opts to give the losing semi-finalists a bronze medal each, with the winner of the gold medal match getting gold and runner-up the silver medal. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, India’s Bajrang Punia won a bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 65 KG category.

Judo

Judo is another extremely contact sport that has been a part of the Olympics for the past six decades. The Judo event is also an elimination-based one where athletes have to come up through different rounds before partaking in semi-finals and then the gold medal bout.

The Olympic Committee also gives four medals to participants in different Judo weight category events. The losers of the semi-finals are given the bronze medal. This is also because of how physically taxing the bouts can be, which does not give semi-finalists much time to get ready for a third-place match.

As a result, two bronze medals are given to the athletes that lose in the semi-final and four individuals gain a place in the Olympic podium.

Also Read: India at Paris Olympics 2024: Judo schedule, squad, live streaming details

Amateur Boxing

Amateur Boxing has been an active event in the Summer Olympics from as far back as the third Olympic Games in 1904. Over the years, there has been interesting changes made to the prospect of how the ‘third place’ individual are to be rewarded. From the 1950 Olympics, the International Boxing Association (IBA) decided to scrap the prospect of a bronze medals.

As a result, for five Olympic Games from 1950-1968, the losing semi-finals were not given any bronze medals. Only the winner got the gold medal and the runners-up the silver medal. But in 1970, the association decided to reward the losing semifinalists with two bronze medals.

Also Read: India at Paris Olympics 2024: Boxing schedule, squad, live streaming details

As a result, four medals have been given to boxing athletes from the 1972 Olympics. This was the rule that allowed Indian Boxer MC Mary Kom to get a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics even after losing in the semi-final.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo was only introduced as a demonstration sport from the 1988 edition and became a regular part of the Summer Games from 2000. As the sport of Taekwondo can be very physical and exhausting, the Olympic Committee has made the rule against holding a third-place match to determine a singular bronze medal winner.

As a result, two bronze medals are also given to athletes who end up losing in the semi-finals of the different weight class categories in the Olympics. In total, four medals are given which includes two bronze medals to the losing semi-finalists, the gold medal for the winner and Olympic champion as well as the silver for the individual who loses in the gold medal match.

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