Category profile
- Dominance
- 90
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 86
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 92
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 2.43 | |
| 1989 | 2.44 | |
| 1990 | 2.43 | |
| 1991 | 2.45 | |
| 1992 | 2.42 | |
| 1993 | 2.4 | |
| 1994 | 2.38 | |
| 1995 | 2.37 | |
| 1996 | 2.39 | |
| 1997 | 2.36 | |
| 1998 | 2.34 | |
| 1999 | 2.33 | |
| 2000 | 2.31 | |
| 2001 | 2.28 |
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 Javier Sotomayor ranks #17 in Athletics
Javier Sotomayor ranks 17th among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 111th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.9 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 90, Peak 94, Longevity 86, Honours 88, Statistics 92. 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 1984–2001 with 14 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1991, which sets the Peak component at 94. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 1, world championship golds 2, high jump world record (m) 2.45, world indoor golds 4.
Immediately ahead sits Kenenisa Bekele on 90.3, a gap of 0.4 points. Directly behind is Fanny Blankers-Koen on 90.5. 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.
Javier Sotomayor GOAT Score explained
- Dominance90/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Sotomayor stood above the field while competing. Scored 90/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak94/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1991. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity86/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 17 years of competition and 14 recorded seasons. Scored 86/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics92/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 92/100.
Top Sotomayor comparisons
Javier Sotomayor — frequently asked
- Is Javier Sotomayor the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Javier Sotomayor ranks 17th in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 89.9, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Javier Sotomayor's GOAT Score?
- 89.9 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 90 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 86 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 92 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Javier Sotomayor rank all time?
- 111th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 17th within Athletics.
- Javier Sotomayor vs Kenenisa Bekele: who ranks higher?
- Kenenisa Bekele, on 90.3 against Javier Sotomayor's 89.9 — a margin of 0.4 points.