Who is better, Lewis or Joyner-Kersee?
Carl Lewis leads with a GOAT score of 93.1 against 92.1 for Jackie Joyner-Kersee — a gap of 1.0 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Lewis vs Joyner-Kersee
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Carl Lewis above Jackie Joyner-Kersee: 93.1 vs 92.1. Carl Lewis leads on Longevity, Honours, Dominance. Jackie Joyner-Kersee leads on Statistics, Peak.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
LewisWinner
93.1Lewis wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours
Joyner-Kersee
92.1Joyner-Kersee wins: Peak, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/carl-lewis-vs-joyner-kersee
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Carl Lewis
93.1
Lewis leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Carl Lewis
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
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through season 5 · Form index per season1. 🇺🇸 Jackie Joyner-Kersee5 seasons played · career day 3,28735,027 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Carl Lewis5 seasons played · career day 2,55650 major golds
-99.9% vs Joyner-Kersee at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Lewis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29.96 | 69.95 |
| 🇺🇸 Joyner-Kersee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,027 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | LewisRetired | Joyner-KerseeRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 9 | 3 |
| World Championship golds | 8 | 4 |
| Olympic medals | 10 | 6 |
| World records | 3 | 2 |
| Long jump win streak | 65 | — |
| 100 m personal best | 9.86 | — |
| Heptathlon world record | — | 7,291 |
| Long jump best (m) | — | 7.49 |
| Dominance w25% | 93 | 92 |
| Peak w20% | 94 | 95 |
| Longevity w20% | 92 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 94 | 92 |
| Statistics w15% | 92 | 94 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Lewis93.1
Joyner-Kersee92.1
FAQ
Where does Joyner-Kersee beat Lewis?
Joyner-Kersee scores higher on peak, statistics. Lewis leads on dominance, honours, longevity.
How is the Lewis vs Joyner-Kersee score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Lewis: 93.1, Joyner-Kersee: 92.1.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Lewis 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.