Category profile
- Dominance
- 90
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 88
- Honours
- 90
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 56.36 | |
| 1957 | 57.8 | |
| 1958 | 58.9 | |
| 1959 | 59.18 | |
| 1960 | 61.1 | |
| 1961 | 62.45 | |
| 1962 | 61 | |
| 1963 | 64.34 | |
| 1964 | 66.2 | |
| 1965 | 68.4 | |
| 1966 | 69.46 | |
| 1967 | 65 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- Olympics.com
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Al Oerter ranks #13 in Athletics
Al Oerter ranks 13th among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 103rd of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.7 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 90, Peak 92, Longevity 88, Honours 90, Statistics 88. Those categories are normalised against the full Athletics reference universe of 309 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1954–1980 with 12 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1966, which sets the Peak component at 92. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 92 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 4, world records 4, olympic records 4, discus best (m) 69.46.
Immediately ahead sits Yelena Isinbayeva on 90.3, a gap of 0.6 points. Directly behind is Merlene Ottey on 87.6. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Al Oerter GOAT Score explained
- Dominance90/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Oerter stood above the field while competing. Scored 90/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1966. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity88/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 26 years of competition and 12 recorded seasons. Scored 88/100.
- Honours90/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 90/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Oerter comparisons
Al Oerter — frequently asked
- Is Al Oerter the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Al Oerter ranks 13th in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 89.7, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Al Oerter's GOAT Score?
- 89.7 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 90 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 88 (20%), Honours 90 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Al Oerter rank all time?
- 103rd of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 13th within Athletics.
- Al Oerter vs Yelena Isinbayeva: who ranks higher?
- Yelena Isinbayeva, on 90.3 against Al Oerter's 89.7 — a margin of 0.6 points.