Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 88
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 60 | |
| 1993 | 74 | |
| 1994 | 86 | |
| 1995 | 94 | |
| 1996 | 96 | |
| 1997 | 94 | |
| 1998 | 90 | |
| 1999 | 88 | |
| 2000 | 86 | |
| 2001 | 84 | |
| 2002 | 90 | |
| 2003 | 96 | |
| 2004 | 88 | |
| 2005 | 82 | |
| 2006 | 76 | |
| 2007 | 70 | |
| 2008 | 64 | |
| 2009 | 58 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- European Athletics
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Paul Tergat ranks #40 in Athletics
Paul Tergat ranks 40th among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 419th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 88.4 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 92, Longevity 88, Honours 86, Statistics 88. Those categories are normalised against the full Athletics reference universe of 308 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1992–2009 with 18 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1996, 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 world cross country golds 5, olympic silver medals 2, world record marathon 2.0455, world half marathon titles 2.
Immediately ahead sits Tianna Bartoletta on 88.4, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Valerie Adams on 88.3. 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.
Paul Tergat GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Tergat 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 1996. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity88/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 17 years of competition and 18 recorded seasons. Scored 88/100.
- 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 Tergat comparisons
Paul Tergat — frequently asked
- Is Paul Tergat the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Paul Tergat ranks 40th in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 88.4, behind Usain Bolt on 93.2.
- What is Paul Tergat's GOAT Score?
- 88.4 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 88 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Paul Tergat rank all time?
- 419th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 40th within Athletics.
- Paul Tergat vs Tianna Bartoletta: who ranks higher?
- Paul Tergat, on 88.4 against Tianna Bartoletta's 88.4 — a margin of 0.0 points.