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Thompson vs Sjöström

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
ThompsonWinner
88.6

Thompson wins: Honours

Sjöström
88.6

Sjöström wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Swimming

Shareable URL · /compare/jenny-thompson-vs-sarah-sjostrom

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Jenny Thompson
88.6

Thompson leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Twelve-time Olympic medallist and one of the most decorated swimmers in history.

1. Jenny Thompson
88.6
2. Sarah Sjöström
88.6

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 season
1. 🇺🇸 Jenny Thompson5 seasons played · career day 1,82517 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇸🇪 Sarah Sjöström5 seasons played · career day 2,19114 major golds
-17.6% vs Thompson at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Thompson00261731
🇸🇪 Sjöström00021032

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.

MetricThompsonRetiredSjöströmActive
Olympic gold medals8
Olympic medals127
World Championship golds912
Olympic Games contested4
World records56
Olympic golds3
50 m freestyle best (s)23.61
European golds26
Dominance w25%8686
Peak w20%9090
Longevity w20%8690
Honours w20%9288
Statistics w15%9090

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Thompson88.6
Sjöström88.6
The people
Thompson
Sjöström

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Make your case for Thompson vs Sjöström. 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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