Olympic alpine first: Maze, Gisin both win gold after downhill tie

It really happened: There are two gold medalists for the first time in Olympic alpine skiing history. Slovenia's Tina Maze and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin both finished with a time of 1:41.57. 

But this is a tale of two different skiers. Maze came in as the favorite. She is on top of the World Cup circuit in Super G, giant slalom and combined, and sits in second in slalom and downhill. She finished fourth in the super-combined on Monday, but was looking for redemption in the downhill event Wednesday. This is Slovenia's first-ever Olympic gold. 

As for Gisin, she has only won three times on the World Cup circuit in her entire career: two in downhill, the other in Super G and those were all during the 2009-10 season. 

Lara Gut, also of Switzerland, ended up with the bronze medal. (No silver is awarded because of the gold-medal tie). U.S. skier Julia Mancuso was expected to make a run for the podium, but finished in eighth. Favorite Maria Höfl-Riesch also struggled and placed 13th. 

Larisa Yurkiw, who was Canada's only competitor, finished 20th.

This is probably what previous editions of the Olympics did behind the scenes to ensure there were no ties.

Here is a look at other ties at the Winter Olympics.