What unusual case happened after the men's pole vault at the 1936 Summer Olympics when two of the medalists returned home?

A three-way tie for second resulted in a jump-off; after American Bill Sefton was eliminated (ending the United States' streak of two or more medals in every pole vault), two Japanese jumpers were left. They refused to compete further, so Japanese officials chose, by fiat, Shuhei Nishida as the silver medalist and Sueo Oe the bronze medalist. After the Games, Nishida and Oe "took their medals, cut them apart, and combined them into a half-silver, half-bronze medal, the only two of their type ever created."