Who is better, Bolt or Nurmi?
Usain Bolt leads with a GOAT score of 93.2 against 92.1 for Paavo Nurmi — a gap of 1.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bolt vs Nurmi
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Usain Bolt above Paavo Nurmi: 93.2 vs 92.1. Usain Bolt leads on Dominance, Peak, Honours. Paavo Nurmi leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BoltWinner
93.2Bolt wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics
Nurmi
92.1Nurmi wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/bolt-vs-paavo-nurmi
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. Paavo Nurmi
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 Nurmi — 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 | NurmiRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 8 | 9 |
| World golds | 11 | — |
| World records | 3 | 22 |
| 100m best (s) | 9.58 | — |
| 200m best (s) | 19.19 | — |
| Global finals won | 19 | — |
| Olympic medals | — | 12 |
| Golds at one Games | — | 5 |
| Unbeaten run (races) | — | 121 |
| Distances held records at | — | 8 |
| Dominance w25% | 98 | 93 |
| Peak w20% | 100 | 95 |
| Longevity w20% | 74 | 86 |
| Honours w20% | 98 | 94 |
| Statistics w15% | 95 | 92 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Bolt93.2
Nurmi92.1
FAQ
Where does Nurmi beat Bolt?
Nurmi scores higher on longevity. Bolt leads on peak, dominance, honours, statistics.
How is the Bolt vs Nurmi score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Bolt: 93.2, Nurmi: 92.1.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bolt vs Nurmi. 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.