Pools, groups, heats: How athletes actually get to Olympics podium finish

The road to the Olympics is long and winding, but arriving in Paris is still far from the destination.

With 450 Australian athletes in France for this year's Games, there is still a long journey ahead of them if they want to return home with one of those coveted medals.

Throughout the events there are three main competition types athletes will compete in to be in medal contention.

We're running through some of the most common ways athletes will progress towards medal events.

Australian Olympians Alicia Coutts, Kelsey-Lee Barber, Sharni Williams, and Rebecca Henderson. Pictures by Colleen Petch, Sitthixay Ditthavong, Melissa Adams

Groups

Wagga's Corey Toole has started his Olympic campaign before the Games even open.

Part of the men's rugby sevens team, Toole is one of 288 players taking the field at Stade de France, but even in the shortened game there are time constraints to consider and without the availability for every team to play on another, they have been randomly selected into pools, or groups.

A competition within the competition, teams have been split into groups of four, where they will play each other once.

A video from the Daily Advertiser about the progression of athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Filmed July, 2024

Awarded points for winning games within their groups, typically the top two countries from each group will then progress to the next stage. In sports where additional teams are required for later rounds, the top scoring third place teams may also progress.

From there, a traditional knockout system is adopted.

With progression based on a point system from within each pool, there is a greater margin for error.

One loss or poor performance does not necessarily mean that country will fall from the competition.

However depending on the sport, and what countries are in each group, some nations face a tougher test than others.

In order for the group selections to be fair, countries are randomly assigned.

It's a method that is far from new, with team sports across the globe utilising this format of competition, typically in World Cups.

Sports that follow the group system are typically competed in by teams. Due to the time and venue constraints competition for group spots began, for some, years ago.

Rugby sevens, water polo, soccer, handball, and volleyball are all sports that utilise pool systems.

Heats

What do you do when you've got more athletes than lanes on a track? You cull them.

The 100m sprint final is one of the most popular Olympic events but there are only eight lanes on the track, far fewer than athletes that have ran the qualifying time.

To determine those lucky eight who will have a chance at gold, a series of heats are ran prior.

Most track events have at most three rounds, the heats, the semis, and the final, but the number of rounds can be adjusted based on the number of athletes in any given event.

In the 2020 Olympics, there were seven round one heats ran for the men's 100m sprint, from here the top three athletes progressed to the semi finals.

Three semi finals were ran, and with eight lanes available in the final the fastest two from each race, and the next two fastest athletes overall progressed to the final.

While this system changes slightly across different events, whether they be track and field, at the velodrome, or in the pool, the idea of culling athletes by taking only the fastest from each race is consistent.

It's a lose and you're out situation that demands athletes be at peak performance multiple times throughout the games if they're to earn themselves a medal.

Single elimination, first past the post

Single elimination, or knockout, gives athletes no room for error.

While some sports that begin in groups (water polo) or heats (surfing) will eventually progress to a single elimination format, many are cut throat from the get go.

Tennis and fencing are two such sports, you lose and your time at the Olympics is up.

It's the traditional competition format for these sports.

Athletes are placed in a bracket, with the winner of each match progressing to the next stage, meaning the number of competitors is halved at the end of each round.

There is one additional match in this format than usual however due to the three medal system.

The two losing athletes, or teams, that were defeated by those in the gold medal match will compete for bronze.

First past the post is also adopted for endurance sports, such as triathlon, marathon swimming, and the 10,000m track event.

The sheer length of these events means athletes could not compete multiple times.