Who is better, Bolt or Joyner-Kersee?
Usain Bolt leads with a GOAT score of 93.2 against 92.1 for Jackie Joyner-Kersee — a gap of 1.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bolt vs Joyner-Kersee
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Usain Bolt above Jackie Joyner-Kersee: 93.2 vs 92.1. Usain Bolt leads on Dominance, Honours, Peak. Jackie Joyner-Kersee leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BoltWinner
93.2Bolt wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics
Joyner-Kersee
92.1Joyner-Kersee wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/bolt-vs-joyner-kersee
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. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
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 Joyner-Kersee — 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 | Joyner-KerseeRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 8 | 3 |
| World golds | 11 | — |
| World records | 3 | 2 |
| 100m best (s) | 9.58 | — |
| 200m best (s) | 19.19 | — |
| Global finals won | 19 | — |
| Olympic medals | — | 6 |
| World Championship golds | — | 4 |
| Heptathlon world record | — | 7,291 |
| Long jump best (m) | — | 7.49 |
| Dominance w25% | 98 | 92 |
| Peak w20% | 100 | 95 |
| Longevity w20% | 74 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 98 | 92 |
| Statistics w15% | 95 | 94 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bolt93.2
Joyner-Kersee92.1
FAQ
Where does Joyner-Kersee beat Bolt?
Joyner-Kersee scores higher on longevity. Bolt leads on peak, dominance, honours, statistics.
How is the Bolt vs Joyner-Kersee score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bolt: 93.2, Joyner-Kersee: 92.1.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bolt vs Joyner-Kersee. 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.