Bolt vs Phelps
Shareable comparison — send this exact matchup to anyone.
Phelps wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Bolt wins: no category outright
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
98.1 in-sport × 0.97 Global participation & competition depth
Phelps leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories. 23 Olympic golds across five Games — the most decorated Olympian in history.
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
Setting the pace at age 21
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
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.