Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 86
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 90
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 2 | |
| 1977 | 3 | |
| 1978 | 4 | |
| 1979 | 5 | |
| 1980 | 5 | |
| 1981 | 4 | |
| 1982 | 5 | |
| 1983 | 6 | |
| 1984 | 4 | |
| 1985 | 4 | |
| 1986 | 3 | |
| 1987 | 3 | |
| 1988 | 2 | |
| 1989 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- IOC
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Grete Waitz ranks #31 in Athletics
Grete Waitz ranks 31st among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 209th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 88.3 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 92, Longevity 86, Honours 86, Statistics 90. 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 1971–1990 with 16 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1983, 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 new york marathon wins 9, world championship golds 1, olympic medals 1, world cross country titles 5.
Immediately ahead sits Ryan Crouser on 88.7, a gap of 0.4 points. Directly behind is Ingrid Kristiansen on 87.8. 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.
Grete Waitz GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Waitz stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1983. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity86/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 19 years of competition and 16 recorded seasons. Scored 86/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics90/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 90/100.
Top Waitz comparisons
Grete Waitz — frequently asked
- Is Grete Waitz the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Grete Waitz ranks 31st in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 88.3, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Grete Waitz's GOAT Score?
- 88.3 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 86 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 90 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Grete Waitz rank all time?
- 209th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 31st within Athletics.
- Grete Waitz vs Ryan Crouser: who ranks higher?
- Ryan Crouser, on 88.7 against Grete Waitz's 88.3 — a margin of 0.4 points.