Who is better, Thorpe or Carey?
Rick Carey leads with a GOAT score of 85.8 against 85.5 for Ian Thorpe — a gap of 0.3 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Thorpe vs Carey
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Rick Carey above Ian Thorpe: 85.8 vs 85.5. Rick Carey leads on Statistics, Dominance, Peak. Ian Thorpe leads on Longevity, Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
CareyWinner
85.8Carey wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics
Thorpe
85.5Thorpe wins: Longevity, Honours
Candidates
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Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Rick Carey
85.8
Carey leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Rick Carey
2. Ian Thorpe
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. 🇺🇸 Rick Carey5 seasons played · career day 1,825383 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇦🇺 Ian Thorpe5 seasons played · career day 2,19024 major golds
-93.7% vs Carey at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺 Thorpe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 35 |
| 🇺🇸 Carey | 0 | 0 | 50 | 116 | 383 | 581 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | ThorpeRetired | CareyRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 5 | — |
| Olympic medals | 9 | — |
| World Championship golds | 11 | — |
| World records | 13 | — |
| Commonwealth golds | 10 | — |
| 400 m freestyle best (s) | 220.06 | — |
| Olympic gold medals | — | 3 |
| World records set | — | 5 |
| World Championship titles | — | 1 |
| Pan Pacific titles | — | 2 |
| US titles | — | 17 |
| Dominance w25% | 86 | 88 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 74 | 70 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 86 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 92 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Carey85.8
Thorpe85.5
FAQ
Where does Thorpe beat Carey?
Thorpe scores higher on honours, longevity. Carey leads on peak, dominance, statistics.
How is the Thorpe vs Carey score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Thorpe: 85.5, Carey: 85.8.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Thorpe vs Carey. 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.