Category profile
- Dominance
- 90
- Peak
- 95
- Longevity
- 82
- Honours
- 90
- Statistics
- 90
Career timeline · Major golds per season
| Season | Major golds per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 1770 | |
| 1949 | 1755 | |
| 1950 | 1748 | |
| 1951 | 1740 | |
| 1952 | 1735 | |
| 1953 | 1730 | |
| 1954 | 1727 | |
| 1955 | 1740 | |
| 1956 | 1755 | |
| 1957 | 1780 |
Data sources
- World Athletics
- Olympedia
- Olympics.com
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Emil Zátopek ranks #29 in Athletics
Emil Zátopek ranks 29th among Athletics athletes on GOAT Rank and 194th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.4 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 90, Peak 95, Longevity 82, Honours 90, 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 1944–1958 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1957, which sets the Peak component at 95. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 95 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic golds 4, world records 18, european golds 5, olympic medals 5.
Immediately ahead sits Faith Kipyegon on 89.5, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Ryan Crouser on 88.7. 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.
Emil Zátopek GOAT Score explained
- Dominance90/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Zátopek stood above the field while competing. Scored 90/100 against the full Athletics cohort.
- Peak95/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1957. Scored 95/100.
- Longevity82/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 14 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 82/100.
- Honours90/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 90/100.
- Statistics90/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 90/100.
Top Zátopek comparisons
Emil Zátopek — frequently asked
- Is Emil Zátopek the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Emil Zátopek ranks 29th in Athletics with a GOAT Score of 89.4, behind Carl Lewis on 93.1.
- What is Emil Zátopek's GOAT Score?
- 89.4 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 90 (25%), Peak 95 (20%), Longevity 82 (20%), Honours 90 (20%), Statistics 90 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Emil Zátopek rank all time?
- 194th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 29th within Athletics.
- Emil Zátopek vs Faith Kipyegon: who ranks higher?
- Faith Kipyegon, on 89.5 against Emil Zátopek's 89.4 — a margin of 0.1 points.