Who is better, Bikila or Bolt?
Usain Bolt leads with a GOAT score of 93.2 against 85.8 for Abebe Bikila — a gap of 7.4 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bikila vs Bolt
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Usain Bolt above Abebe Bikila: 93.2 vs 85.8. Usain Bolt leads on Honours, Statistics, Dominance.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BoltWinner
93.2Bolt wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Bikila
85.8Bikila wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/abebe-bikila-vs-bolt
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇯🇲 Usain Bolt
93.2
Bolt leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Usain Bolt
2. Abebe Bikila
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇯🇲 Usain Bolt224 major golds
4 seasons by age 21 · 56 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Bikila — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | BikilaRetired | BoltRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 2 | 8 |
| Marathon world bests | 2 | — |
| Olympic marathon titles in a row | 2 | — |
| Career marathon wins | 12 | — |
| Best marathon time (min) | 132.2 | — |
| World golds | — | 11 |
| World records | — | 3 |
| 100m best (s) | — | 9.58 |
| 200m best (s) | — | 19.19 |
| Global finals won | — | 19 |
| Dominance w25% | 90 | 98 |
| Peak w20% | 94 | 100 |
| Longevity w20% | 70 | 74 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 98 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 95 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bolt93.2
Bikila85.8
FAQ
Where does Bikila beat Bolt?
Bikila does not lead any of the five categories; Bolt is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Bikila vs Bolt score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bikila: 85.8, Bolt: 93.2.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bikila vs Bolt. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.