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Rudisha vs Owens

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
RudishaWinner
86.7

Rudisha wins: Longevity, Statistics

Owens
86.3

Owens wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/david-rudisha-vs-jesse-owens

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇰🇪 David Rudisha
86.7

Rudisha leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories. 1:40.91 in the London 2012 final — the greatest 800 m ever run.

1. David Rudisha
86.7
2. Jesse Owens
86.3

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. 🇰🇪 David Rudisha5 seasons played · career day 2,921506.8 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Jesse Owens5 seasons played · career day 2,19151.2 major golds
-89.9% vs Rudisha at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇰🇪 Rudisha0000203.05610.11
🇺🇸 Owens00010.330.761.6

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.

MetricRudishaRetiredOwensRetired
Olympic golds24
World Championship golds2
World records3
800 m world record (s)100.91
Diamond League titles4
Sub-1:42 races15
World records set6
NCAA titles8
Long jump world record years25
100 m personal best10.2
Long jump best (m)8.13
Dominance w25%8890
Peak w20%9497
Longevity w20%7666
Honours w20%8690
Statistics w15%9088

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Rudisha86.7
Owens86.3
The people
Rudisha
Owens

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Make your case for Rudisha vs Owens. 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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