Category profile
- Dominance
- 86
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 74
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 5 | |
| 2000 | 6 | |
| 2001 | 6 | |
| 2002 | 4 | |
| 2003 | 5 | |
| 2004 | 4 | |
| 2005 | 2 | |
| 2006 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 1 |
Data sources
- World Aquatics
- Olympedia
- Olympics.com
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Ian Thorpe ranks #25 in Swimming
Ian Thorpe ranks 25th among Swimming athletes on GOAT Rank and 439th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 85.5 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 86, Peak 92, Longevity 74, Honours 88, Statistics 88. 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 1997–2012 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2000, 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 5, olympic medals 9, world championship golds 11, world records 13.
Immediately ahead sits Tamás Darnyi on 87.3, a gap of 1.8 points. Directly behind is Caeleb Dressel on 85.0. 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.
Ian Thorpe GOAT Score explained
- Dominance86/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Thorpe stood above the field while competing. Scored 86/100 against the full Swimming cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2000. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity74/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 15 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 74/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Thorpe comparisons
Ian Thorpe — frequently asked
- Is Ian Thorpe the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Ian Thorpe ranks 25th in Swimming with a GOAT Score of 85.5, behind Michael Phelps on 98.1.
- What is Ian Thorpe's GOAT Score?
- 85.5 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 86 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 74 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Ian Thorpe rank all time?
- 439th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 25th within Swimming.
- Ian Thorpe vs Tamás Darnyi: who ranks higher?
- Tamás Darnyi, on 87.3 against Ian Thorpe's 85.5 — a margin of 1.8 points.