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Many sports playoffs and knockout tournaments include a third place playoff, third place match, bronze medal game, or consolation game to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. This game is typically competed by the competitors or teams that lost in the semi-finals of the tournament that they competed in. Some tournaments may use the third place playoff to determine who wins the bronze medal, while other tournaments need to hold a third place playoff for seeding purposes if three or all four semi-finalists advance to another tournament. Social psychology studies have found that bronze medalists who had won a third place playoff were significantly happier than silver medalists who had lost a championship final.[1][2]
In tournaments that do not award medals or have the third place finisher advance to something else, a third place playoff is a classification match that serves little more than as a consolation to the losing semi-finalists. A consolation game also allows teams to play more than one game after having invested time, effort and money in the quest for a championship. Third place playoffs held as such consolation games are subject to debate. Many sports tournaments do not have a third place playoff due to a lack of interest. It has been criticised by some who feel that the match serves little purpose, but others see this game as an occasion for the losing semi-finalists to salvage some pride. How seriously the competitors or teams take a third place consolation game may also be mixed: a heavily favoured team that lost in an upset in the semi-final round may not have as much incentive to win as would a "Cinderella" team who was not expected to advance that far.
- ^ Swanson, Ana (16 August 2016). "Why bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists, and other things the Olympics teaches us about human emotions". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
- ^ Medvec, Victoria; Madey, Scott; Gilovich, Thomas (1995). "When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 69 (4): 603–610. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.603. Retrieved 19 August 2023.