Category profile
- Dominance
- 92
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 80
- Honours
- 90
- Statistics
- 92
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 1 | |
| 1967 | 2 | |
| 1968 | 4 | |
| 1969 | 3 | |
| 1970 | 3 | |
| 1971 | 3 | |
| 1972 | 4 | |
| 1973 | 3 | |
| 1974 | 2 | |
| 1975 | 1 | |
| 1976 | 1 |
Data sources
- World Aquatics
- Olympedia
- IOC results
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Roland Matthes ranks #7 in Swimming
Roland Matthes ranks 7th among Swimming athletes on GOAT Rank and 97th of 2289 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.6 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 92, Peak 94, Longevity 80, Honours 90, Statistics 92. Those categories are normalised against the full Swimming reference universe of 289 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1966–1976 with 11 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1968, 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 gold medals 4, olympic medals 8, world records 19, world championship golds 3.
Immediately ahead sits Kirsty Coventry on 89.7, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Inge de Bruijn 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.
Roland Matthes GOAT Score explained
- Dominance92/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Matthes stood above the field while competing. Scored 92/100 against the full Swimming cohort.
- Peak94/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1968. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity80/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 10 years of competition and 11 recorded seasons. Scored 80/100.
- Honours90/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 90/100.
- Statistics92/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 92/100.
Top Matthes comparisons
Roland Matthes — frequently asked
- Is Roland Matthes the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Roland Matthes ranks 7th in Swimming with a GOAT Score of 89.6, behind Michael Phelps on 98.1.
- What is Roland Matthes's GOAT Score?
- 89.6 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 92 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 80 (20%), Honours 90 (20%), Statistics 92 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Roland Matthes rank all time?
- 97th of 2289 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 7th within Swimming.
- Roland Matthes vs Kirsty Coventry: who ranks higher?
- Kirsty Coventry, on 89.7 against Roland Matthes's 89.6 — a margin of 0.1 points.