Who is better, Bolt or Barbosa?
Usain Bolt leads with a GOAT score of 93.2 against 81.9 for José Luíz Barbosa — a gap of 11.3 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bolt vs Barbosa
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Usain Bolt above José Luíz Barbosa: 93.2 vs 81.9. Usain Bolt leads on Dominance, Honours, Peak. José Luíz Barbosa leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BoltWinner
93.2Bolt wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics
Barbosa
81.9Barbosa wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/bolt-vs-jose-luiz-barbosa
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 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Usain Bolt
2. José Luíz Barbosa
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 Barbosa — 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 | BoltRetired | BarbosaRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 8 | — |
| World golds | 11 | — |
| World records | 3 | — |
| 100m best (s) | 9.58 | — |
| 200m best (s) | 19.19 | — |
| Global finals won | 19 | — |
| World indoor titles | — | 1 |
| World Championship medals | — | 1 |
| Pan American golds | — | 2 |
| 800 m personal best in seconds | — | 103.05 |
| Olympic appearances | — | 3 |
| Dominance w25% | 98 | 76 |
| Peak w20% | 100 | 90 |
| Longevity w20% | 74 | 84 |
| Honours w20% | 98 | 76 |
| Statistics w15% | 95 | 86 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bolt93.2
Barbosa81.9
FAQ
Where does Barbosa beat Bolt?
Barbosa scores higher on longevity. Bolt leads on peak, dominance, honours, statistics.
How is the Bolt vs Barbosa score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bolt: 93.2, Barbosa: 81.9.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bolt vs Barbosa. 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.