Who is better, Bolt or Phelps?
Michael Phelps leads with a cross-sport score of 95.2 against 93.2 for Usain Bolt — a gap of 2.0 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Bolt vs Phelps
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Michael Phelps above Usain Bolt: 95.2 vs 93.2. Michael Phelps leads on Longevity, Statistics, Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →Cross-sport verdictgoatrank.world
PhelpsWinner
95.2Phelps wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Bolt
93.2Bolt wins: no category outright
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Cross-sport GOAT score
🇺🇸 Michael Phelps
95.2
98.1 in-sport × 0.97 Global participation & competition depth
Phelps leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Michael Phelpsdepth ×0.97
2. Usain Boltdepth ×1.00
Category breakdown
Season form · season output
Career timeline · season output
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · season output
1. 🇺🇸 Michael Phelps548 output
7 seasons by age 21 · 78.3 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
2. 🇯🇲 Usain Bolt224 output
4 seasons by age 21 · 56 per season
Bolt is -59.1% behind Phelps's pace at age 21
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 | PhelpsRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Dominance w25% | 98 | 99 |
| Peak w20% | 100 | 100 |
| Longevity w20% | 74 | 93 |
| Honours w20% | 98 | 100 |
| Statistics w15% | 95 | 98 |
| Olympic golds | 8 | 23 |
| World golds | 11 | — |
| World records | 3 | — |
| 100m best (s) | 9.58 | — |
| 200m best (s) | 19.19 | — |
| Global finals won | 19 | — |
| Olympic medals | — | 28 |
| World titles (LC) | — | 26 |
| World records set | — | 39 |
| Olympic Games | — | 5 |
| Golds in one Games | — | 8 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Phelps95.2
Bolt93.2
FAQ
Where does Bolt beat Phelps?
Bolt does not lead any of the five categories; Phelps is ahead or level on all of them.
How can athletes from different sports be compared?
Each in-sport GOAT score is multiplied by Competition Depth: Bolt 1.00 (athletics) and Phelps 0.97 (swimming). Deeper, more global sports keep more of their score.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Bolt vs Phelps. 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.