Category profile
- Dominance
- 90
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 70
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 92
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 2 | |
| 1978 | 3 | |
| 1979 | 4 | |
| 1980 | 3 | |
| 1981 | 4 | |
| 1982 | 3 | |
| 1983 | 3 | |
| 1984 | 2 | |
| 1985 | 4 | |
| 1986 | 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 Marita Koch ranks #61 in Athletics
Marita Koch ranks 61st among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 493rd of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 86.3 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 90, Peak 94, Longevity 70, Honours 86, 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 1977–1986 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1979, 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 world records 16, olympic golds 1, world championship golds 3, european golds 8.
Immediately ahead sits Tegla Loroupe on 84.1, a gap of -2.2 points. Directly behind is Kirani James on 83.7. 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.
Marita Koch GOAT Score explained
- Dominance90/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Koch 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 1979. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity70/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 9 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 70/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics92/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 92/100.
Top Koch comparisons
Marita Koch — frequently asked
- Is Marita Koch the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Marita Koch ranks 61st in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 86.3, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Marita Koch's GOAT Score?
- 86.3 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 90 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 70 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 92 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Marita Koch rank all time?
- 493rd of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 61st within Athletics.
- Marita Koch vs Tegla Loroupe: who ranks higher?
- Marita Koch, on 86.3 against Tegla Loroupe's 84.1 — a margin of 2.2 points.