Category profile
- Dominance
- 82
- Peak
- 88
- Longevity
- 70
- Honours
- 82
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2 | |
| 2010 | 4 | |
| 2011 | 5 | |
| 2012 | 6 | |
| 2013 | 5 | |
| 2014 | 3 | |
| 2015 | 4 | |
| 2016 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 4 | |
| 2018 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 1 |
Data sources
- World Aquatics
- Olympedia
- IOC
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Sun Yang ranks #34 in Swimming
Sun Yang ranks 34th among Swimming athletes on GOAT Rank and 706th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 81.4 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 82, Peak 88, Longevity 70, Honours 82, Statistics 86. Those categories are normalised against the full Swimming reference universe of 288 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 2008–2020 with 11 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2012, which sets the Peak component at 88. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 88 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 3, world titles 11, olympic medals 6, world records 2.
Immediately ahead sits Missy Franklin on 81.8, a gap of 0.4 points. Directly behind is César Cielo on 81.4. 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.
Sun Yang GOAT Score explained
- Dominance82/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Sun stood above the field while competing. Scored 82/100 against the full Swimming cohort.
- Peak88/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2012. Scored 88/100.
- Longevity70/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 12 years of competition and 11 recorded seasons. Scored 70/100.
- Honours82/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 82/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top Sun comparisons
Sun Yang — frequently asked
- Is Sun Yang the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Sun Yang ranks 34th in Swimming with a GOAT Score of 81.4, behind Michael Phelps on 98.1.
- What is Sun Yang's GOAT Score?
- 81.4 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 82 (25%), Peak 88 (20%), Longevity 70 (20%), Honours 82 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Sun Yang rank all time?
- 706th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 34th within Swimming.
- Sun Yang vs Missy Franklin: who ranks higher?
- Missy Franklin, on 81.8 against Sun Yang's 81.4 — a margin of 0.4 points.