I believe if they were closer it would register as a tie like the 50 free in 2000.
A race was decided by the two-thousandths of a second in the Men's 400 IM at the 1972 Olympics. Gunnar Larsson of Sweden and Tim McKee of the USA did the exact same time of 4:31.98 and this was the first time that they ever had a tie like this when using electronic timing.
The 1972 Olympics was the first Olympics that electronic timing was used for final decisions and rightly so judging from what happened to Lance Larsen in 1960. In the 400 IM both Gunnar Larsson and Tim McKee tied at 4:31.98 and at that time there were no rules to declare the winner. Because Omega could dismantle the timing device and upon inspection find out who won by the thousandth of a second. That is just what they did and Larsson was declared the winner by two-thousandths of a second.
Later upon analyzing this, it was found that lane lines and touch pads could vary ever so slightly as to not be an accurate measurement. That a faster than a blink of an eye would not be a fair judgement. An international rule change was made for the future. If he were to have swam that 400 IM in an Olympics after 1972, he would have tied for it and awarded a gold medal like Gary Hall Jr/Anthony Erving in 2000 and Nancy Hogshead/Carrie Steinseifer in 1984. After the 1972 Olympics it was decided that awarding races by one thousand of a second was not accurate and wrong to do so in the first place and in the future there would be ties if the time was identical to the one hundredth of a second. Tim McKee is the only one of six people that never received a gold medal in these exact circumstances. He is appealing and petitioning the IOC to be awarded the gold medal. The IOC has yet to overturn this decision.
I believe if they were closer it would register as a tie like the 50 free in 2000.
A race was decided by the two-thousandths of a second in the Men's 400 IM at the 1972 Olympics. Gunnar Larsson of Sweden and Tim McKee of the USA did the exact same time of 4:31.98 and this was the first time that they ever had a tie like this when using electronic timing.
The 1972 Olympics was the first Olympics that electronic timing was used for final decisions and rightly so judging from what happened to Lance Larsen in 1960. In the 400 IM both Gunnar Larsson and Tim McKee tied at 4:31.98 and at that time there were no rules to declare the winner. Because Omega could dismantle the timing device and upon inspection find out who won by the thousandth of a second. That is just what they did and Larsson was declared the winner by two-thousandths of a second.
Later upon analyzing this, it was found that lane lines and touch pads could vary ever so slightly as to not be an accurate measurement. That a faster than a blink of an eye would not be a fair judgement. An international rule change was made for the future. If he were to have swam that 400 IM in an Olympics after 1972, he would have tied for it and awarded a gold medal like Gary Hall Jr/Anthony Erving in 2000 and Nancy Hogshead/Carrie Steinseifer in 1984. After the 1972 Olympics it was decided that awarding races by one thousand of a second was not accurate and wrong to do so in the first place and in the future there would be ties if the time was identical to the one hundredth of a second. Tim McKee is the only one of six people that never received a gold medal in these exact circumstances. He is appealing and petitioning the IOC to be awarded the gold medal. The IOC has yet to overturn this decision.
