Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 84
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 90
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 14.45 | |
| 2005 | 14.28 | |
| 2006 | 14.24 | |
| 2007 | 14.16 | |
| 2008 | 14.38 | |
| 2009 | 14.24 | |
| 2010 | 14.53 | |
| 2011 | 14.5 | |
| 2012 | 14.42 | |
| 2013 | 14.55 | |
| 2014 | 14.6 | |
| 2015 | 14.75 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- IOC
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Meseret Defar ranks #27 in Athletics
Meseret Defar ranks 27th among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 173rd of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 88.3 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 92, Longevity 84, Honours 88, Statistics 90. 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 2001–2016 with 12 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2015, 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 2, world championship golds 2, world indoor titles 5, world records 5.
Immediately ahead sits Lars Riedel on 88.4, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Faith Kipyegon on 89.5. 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.
Meseret Defar GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Defar stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2015. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity84/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 15 years of competition and 12 recorded seasons. Scored 84/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics90/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 90/100.
Top Defar comparisons
Meseret Defar — frequently asked
- Is Meseret Defar the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Meseret Defar ranks 27th in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 88.3, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Meseret Defar's GOAT Score?
- 88.3 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 84 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 90 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Meseret Defar rank all time?
- 173rd of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 27th within Athletics.
- Meseret Defar vs Lars Riedel: who ranks higher?
- Lars Riedel, on 88.4 against Meseret Defar's 88.3 — a margin of 0.1 points.