To match up the fighters in competition, a sacred silver urn was brought, containing lots. Each lot was inscribed with letters from the Greek alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma etc). There were two of each individual letter (so 2x Alpha, 2x Beta etc). Each athlete would pray to Zeus, put his hand into the urn and draw out a lot. Once all the other athletes had done the same, those that had selected the same letter of the alphabet were matched up. This process was repeated with every round until the finals. When the number of competitors was odd, one of them had a bye and he advanced to the following round without having to compete. Consequently, he had to compete fewer times to reach the final round.