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What happens when there's a tie for gold at the Olympics?

And where do the extra medals go?
PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 19: (L-R) Joint gold medalists Thorsten Margis and Francesco Friedrich of Germany and Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada celebrate during the Men's 2-Man Bobsleigh on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images,)

It doesn't happen very often.

If fact, going into the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, there had only been eight ties for medals.

Add another one to the list.

There was a two-way tie for gold in the two-man bobsled on Monday. Canada and Germany finished with the same combined times, so both finished in first place.

WATCH: Canada and Germany celebrate shared gold medal

Canada and Germany each received gold medals. Latvia, who had the second-best time, went away with the bronze medal. No silver medal was awarded.

When there's a tie for a medal, that is the typical procedure regardless of whether it's for gold, silver or bronze. The IOC rules state that each competitor is entitled to a medal and diploma.

If there's a tie for gold, then the third best result gets the bronze and no one gets the silver. If there's a two way tie for silver, then there's no bronze. If there's a tie for bronze, then there will be at least four teams on the podium.

Three-way tie for gold? Then no one gets a silver or bronze.

Some pretty crazy things can happen. PyeongChang has to be ready with extra medals. The organizing committee had 259 sets of medals made or 777 total medals, according to Olympics.org. That includes extras.

In Sochi, the organizing committee had 46 extra gold medals made, according to the Wall Street Journal. They keep the medals blank so they can be engraved with the sport after the fact so none go to waste. Engraving is a long and intricate process.

Finally, what happens to the extra medals that don't get used? They go to a vault at the IOC's headquarters in Switzerland, according to the WSJ. There are extras from various Olympic games there, including the U.S. men's basketball silver medals from 1972 that the team rejected.

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