Here is how He Kexin of China and Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin finished with the same score on the uneven bars but different medals:

WHERE IT STARTS: Liukin and He each scored a 16.725. They had identical 7.7 start values (the measure of a routine’s difficulty) and 9.025 execution scores. The execution mark is based on the perfect 10.0 scale, and is arrived at by tossing out the highest and lowest of the six judges’ marks, and averaging the remaining four.

THE FIRST TIE-BREAK: The four deductions that counted are added together and averaged. He and Liukin were still tied.

THE SECOND TIE-BREAK: The three-lowest deductions are added together and averaged. He had .933 in deductions and Liukin had .966, meaning He had .033 less in deductions – and was declared the winner.