Category profile
- Dominance
- 86
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 84
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1981 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 2 | |
| 1983 | 3 | |
| 1984 | 4 | |
| 1985 | 3 | |
| 1986 | 2 | |
| 1987 | 1 | |
| 1988 | 1 | |
| 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 Joan Benoit Samuelson ranks #43 in Athletics
Joan Benoit Samuelson ranks 43rd among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 283rd of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 87.5 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 86, Peak 94, Longevity 84, Honours 86, 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 1979–present with 12 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1984, 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, boston marathon wins 2, chicago marathon wins 1, world records 1.
Immediately ahead sits Jonathan Edwards on 87.4, a gap of -0.1 points. Directly behind is Caster Semenya on 87.2. 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.
Joan Benoit Samuelson GOAT Score explained
- Dominance86/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Benoit Samuelson stood above the field while competing. Scored 86/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak94/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1984. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity84/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 47 years of competition and 12 recorded seasons. Scored 84/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Benoit Samuelson comparisons
Joan Benoit Samuelson — frequently asked
- Is Joan Benoit Samuelson the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Joan Benoit Samuelson ranks 43rd in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 87.5, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Joan Benoit Samuelson's GOAT Score?
- 87.5 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 86 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 84 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Joan Benoit Samuelson rank all time?
- 283rd of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 43rd within Athletics.
- Joan Benoit Samuelson vs Jonathan Edwards: who ranks higher?
- Joan Benoit Samuelson, on 87.5 against Jonathan Edwards's 87.4 — a margin of 0.1 points.