OK give me a history lesson please!
When (date) anytime in history did a second place at olympic games or world championships get a gold medal?
Well as a matter of fact, here´s a list of all the winter olympic gold medal ties.
1928 | Speedskating | Men | 500 metres
1956 | Speedskating | Men | 1500 metres
1960 | Speedskating | Men | 1500 metres
1972 | Luge | Men | Doubles
1998 | Bobsledding | Men | Two
2002 | Cross-Country Skiing | Men | Pursuit
2002 | Figure Skating | Mixed | Pairs
There have also been ties for other medals. The silver has been shared eleven times, and two athletes have both received bronze seven times. There have been 25 previous ties for a medal at the Winter Olympics – 7 for gold, 11 for silver, and 7 for bronze. In 1968
As for the Summer olympics, this actually happened just slightly more than two years ago, in august 12 2016.
"At the Summer Olympics, a tie for first, or two or more gold medals awarded, has occurred 27 times."
"Canadian Penny Oleksiak and Simone Manuel of the United States were inseparable at the finish and even more united in joy after a stunning 100 meters freestyle dead-heat rewarded both with Olympic gold on Thursday."
EDIT: I already know what you´re gonna say, "There are no second place participant getting gold medal"
To that I respond with "Who had the accuracy to measure speedskaters in the milliseconds in the 20s? For all we know, there could be up to 500ms between the two people tied in the 1928 speedskating.