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Olsson vs van Niekerk

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
OlssonWinner
84.3

Olsson wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours

van Niekerk
82.9

van Niekerk wins: Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/christian-olsson-vs-wayde-van-niekerk

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇸🇪 Christian Olsson
84.3

Olsson leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Olympic triple jump champion in 2004 and a world champion in 2003.

1. Christian Olsson
84.3
2. Wayde van Niekerk
82.9

Category breakdown

Season form · Major golds per season

Career timeline · Major golds 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 · Major golds per season
1. 🇿🇦 Wayde van Niekerk5 seasons played · career day 3,286219.1 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇸🇪 Christian Olsson5 seasons played · career day 2,92187.3 major golds
-60.2% vs van Niekerk at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇸🇪 Olsson000034.26104.59
🇿🇦 van Niekerk000044.38219.09

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricOlssonRetiredvan NiekerkActive
Olympic golds11
World Championship golds12
World indoor titles3
European titles2
Best jump (m)17.79
400 m world record (s)43.03
World records1
Sub-44 races7
200 m best (s)19.84
Dominance w25%8482
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%7472
Honours w20%8682
Statistics w15%8688

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Olsson84.3
van Niekerk82.9
The people
Olsson
van Niekerk

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Make your case for Olsson vs van Niekerk. 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.

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