The Bergvall system was a variation of the traditional

knockout tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

system. It was used at the

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

and

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

after being devised by Erik Bergvall, a Swedish

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player, journalist and sports official who wanted to improve on the traditional knockout method used in Olympic competitions. Believing that the traditional knockout system was only fair in deciding the gold medal winner, Bergvall advocated separate competitions should also be held for the silver and bronze medals, probably not knowing a similar system had been in use for sports competitions in the United States as early as 1884. Bergvall also believed that teams knocked out in the early rounds of the main gold medal tournament should be given a second chance: all the teams knocked out by the gold medal winner, including the losing finalist, should compete in another knockout competition for the silver medal, then all the teams knocked out by the gold and silver medallists would compete in a third competition for the bronze. At the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Games, the Bergvall system was used to decide the

, while at the 1920 Games it was also used for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, the

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and the

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport in which two teams compete by pulling on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal of bringing the rope a certain distance in one direction against ...

. Although the system is fair, there are two intrinsic flaws: firstly, the gold medal final is held in the middle of the tournament, instead of at the end, and secondly, defeated competitors have to remain ready to compete if those who lost to them are to have any chance of winning a medal. Because of these flaws, the system was dropped by Olympic organisers after the 1924 Olympics, and was abandoned by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

in 1931.

Sample 1

Gold medal round

Silver medal round

Bronze medal round

Sample 2

Gold medal round

Silver medal round

Bronze medal round

References

{{Reflist Tournament systems Water polo at the 1912 Summer Olympics 1920 Summer Olympics Water polo at the 1924 Summer Olympics