Paris 2024 Olympics: What are repechage rounds? Rules and format explained
World Athletics in 2022 had announced that the track events at Paris Olympics 2024 will have repechage rounds from 200m to 1500m including hurdles events.
Repechage has been common in combat sports like wrestling, judo and taekwondo but Paris 2024 will mark the first time athletics will feature this qualification format.
What is repechage?
The repechage allows the losers from preliminary rounds to stay in contention for a medal by providing them a second opportunity.
This is done as draws may pit some athletes against very strong contenders early on in the competition. Its application, however, varies from sport to sport.
Which Olympic sports use repechage?
The sports that will have repechage rounds at the Paris 2024 Olympics are: Athletics, Rowing, Wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo. Some other sports like Rugby 7s had used the repechage rounds in the qualifying tournaments for Paris 2024.
How are the repechage rounds held?
The repechage rounds are different for various sports. Here is how they are applied in each sport:
Athletics: Most events in athletics had a preliminary round followed by a semifinal and the final. In this format, the top three from each race advanced to the next round. A few slots were also reserved for fastest athletes finishing outside top three – a qualification often known as ‘q’ as compared to ‘Q’ for the direct qualification. Now, the ‘q’ has been done away with, and the non-qualifiers from the prelims will go to the repechage and have a chance to qualify for the semifinals. Thus, events across 200m to 1500m will now have four rounds – prelims, repechage, semifinals and finals. This change means every athlete will have at least two races at the Olympics.
Wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo: The repechage rules are similar across combat sports. Here, all athletes who have lost to the finalists remain in contention to win a bronze medal. This is a second chance for the ones who lost to a strong opponent only due to a tough draw. For example, a wrestler ‘A’ beats ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ in the three rounds to enter the final. In this case, ‘B’ and ‘C’ will play the first round in repechage and the winner will take on ‘D’ for the bronze medal. A similar round will be contested between the wrestlers who lost to the second finalist. This is why combat sports have two bronze medallists.
Rowing: The repechage in rowing is similar to the track events. The three fastest rowers or teams from each heat advance to the quarterfinals. The rest move to the repechage rounds. The top two from each repechage race make it to the quarters too.