GGOATRANK
🇯🇵
Swimming · Breaststroke · Japan

Kosuke Kitajima

1999–2016 · Swept the 100 and 200 m breaststroke at two consecutive Olympics.

Retired
Ranking model

100% titles, statistics, dominance, longevity and global competition depth.

Pure sporting data
83.7
Cultural & brand footprint 46/100 · total legacy 76.9
Olympic golds
4
Olympic medals
7
World Championship golds
5
World records
6
100 m breaststroke best (s)
58.9
Asian Games golds
8

Category profile

Dominance
84
Peak
90
Longevity
82
Honours
86
Statistics
86

Career timeline · Form index per season

SeasonForm index per seasonShare of career
200260.2
200359.78
200459.6
200559.3
200658.91
200758.9
200859.2
200959.5
201059.8
201160.2

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 Kosuke Kitajima ranks #18 in Swimming

Kosuke Kitajima ranks 18th among Swimming athletes on GOAT Rank and 330th 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 84, Peak 90, Longevity 82, Honours 86, 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 1999–2016 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2002, 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 4, olympic medals 7, world championship golds 5, world records 6.

Immediately ahead sits Dawn Fraser on 86.8, a gap of 1.3 points. Directly behind is Krisztina Egerszegi on 86.8. 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.

Kosuke Kitajima GOAT Score explained

Dominance84/100 · weight 25%
Measures how far Kitajima stood above the field while competing. Scored 84/100 against the full Swimming cohort.
Peak90/100 · weight 20%
Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2002. Scored 90/100.
Longevity82/100 · weight 20%
Rewards staying at that level over time: 17 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 82/100.
Honours86/100 · weight 20%
Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.

Kosuke Kitajima — frequently asked

Is Kosuke Kitajima the GOAT?
Not on the current data. Kosuke Kitajima ranks 18th in Swimming with a GOAT Score of 85.5, behind Michael Phelps on 98.1.
What is Kosuke Kitajima's GOAT Score?
85.5 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 84 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 82 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
Where does Kosuke Kitajima rank all time?
330th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 18th within Swimming.
Kosuke Kitajima vs Dawn Fraser: who ranks higher?
Dawn Fraser, on 86.8 against Kosuke Kitajima's 85.5 — a margin of 1.3 points.
Compare with Phelps