Who is better, Semenya or Backley?
Caster Semenya leads with a GOAT score of 87.2 against 87.2 for Steve Backley — a gap of 0.0 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Semenya vs Backley
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently scores Caster Semenya and Steve Backley level at 87.2. Caster Semenya leads on Dominance, Honours. Steve Backley leads on Longevity, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
SemenyaWinner
87.2Semenya wins: Dominance, Honours
Backley
87.2Backley wins: Longevity, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/caster-semenya-vs-steve-backley
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇿🇦 Caster Semenya
87.2
Semenya leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Caster Semenya
2. Steve Backley
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. 🇿🇦 Caster Semenya5 seasons played · career day 2,191586.5 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇬🇧 Steve Backley5 seasons played · career day 2,191441.3 major golds
-24.8% vs Semenya at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇿🇦 Semenya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115.45 | 350.87 | 941.46 |
| 🇬🇧 Backley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85.9 | 268.34 | 702.18 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | SemenyaActive | BackleyRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 2 | — |
| World Championship golds | 3 | — |
| Commonwealth golds | 1 | — |
| 800m best (sec) | 114.25 | — |
| Consecutive 800m wins | 30 | — |
| European titles | — | 3 |
| Olympic medals | — | 3 |
| World records | — | 2 |
| Javelin best | — | 91.46 |
| Commonwealth titles | — | 3 |
| Dominance w25% | 88 | 82 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 92 |
| Longevity w20% | 80 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 86 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 90 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Semenya87.2
Backley87.2
FAQ
Where does Backley beat Semenya?
Backley scores higher on statistics, longevity. Semenya leads on dominance, honours.
How is the Semenya vs Backley score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Semenya: 87.2, Backley: 87.2.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Semenya vs Backley. 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.