Category profile
- Dominance
- 82
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 70
- Honours
- 80
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 4 | |
| 2010 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 3 | |
| 2012 | 2 | |
| 2013 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 1 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 1 |
Data sources
- World Aquatics
- Olympedia
- IOC
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why César Cielo ranks #35 in Swimming
César Cielo ranks 35th among Swimming athletes on GOAT Rank and 713th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 81.4 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 82, Peak 90, Longevity 70, Honours 80, Statistics 86. Those categories are normalised against the full Swimming reference universe of 288 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 2006–2016 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2009, which sets the Peak component at 90. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 90 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 1, world titles 4, world records 2, olympic medals 3.
Immediately ahead sits Sun Yang on 81.4, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Kristóf Milák on 80.9. 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.
César Cielo GOAT Score explained
- Dominance82/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Cielo stood above the field while competing. Scored 82/100 against the full Swimming cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2009. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity70/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 10 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 70/100.
- Honours80/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 80/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top Cielo comparisons
César Cielo — frequently asked
- Is César Cielo the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. César Cielo ranks 35th in Swimming with a GOAT Score of 81.4, behind Michael Phelps on 98.1.
- What is César Cielo's GOAT Score?
- 81.4 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 82 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 70 (20%), Honours 80 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does César Cielo rank all time?
- 713th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 35th within Swimming.
- César Cielo vs Sun Yang: who ranks higher?
- César Cielo, on 81.4 against Sun Yang's 81.4 — a margin of 0.0 points.