Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 96
- Longevity
- 70
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 92
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 55 | |
| 1978 | 99 | |
| 1979 | 90 | |
| 1980 | 81 | |
| 1981 | 72 | |
| 1982 | 63 | |
| 1983 | 54 | |
| 1984 | 45 |
Data sources
- World Aquatics records
- Olympedia
- National federation archives
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Sippy Woodhead ranks #44 in Swimming
Sippy Woodhead ranks 44th among Swimming athletes on GOAT Rank and 556th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 86.6 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 96, Longevity 70, Honours 88, 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 1977–1984 with 8 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1978, which sets the Peak component at 96. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 96 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes world championship titles 5, world records set 6, olympic silver medals 1, us titles 18.
Immediately ahead sits Mary T. Meagher on 86.7, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Shirley Babashoff on 86.5. 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.
Sippy Woodhead GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Woodhead stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Swimming cohort.
- Peak96/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1978. Scored 96/100.
- Longevity70/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 7 years of competition and 8 recorded seasons. Scored 70/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics92/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 92/100.
Top Woodhead comparisons
Sippy Woodhead — frequently asked
- Is Sippy Woodhead the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Sippy Woodhead ranks 44th in Swimming with a GOAT Score of 86.6, behind Michael Phelps on 98.1.
- What is Sippy Woodhead's GOAT Score?
- 86.6 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 96 (20%), Longevity 70 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 92 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Sippy Woodhead rank all time?
- 556th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 44th within Swimming.
- Sippy Woodhead vs Mary T. Meagher: who ranks higher?
- Mary T. Meagher, on 86.7 against Sippy Woodhead's 86.6 — a margin of 0.1 points.