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Thugwane vs Bakulin

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
ThugwaneWinner
83.5

Thugwane wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity

Bakulin
81.8

Bakulin wins: Honours

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/josia-thugwane-vs-sergey-bakulin

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇿🇦 Josia Thugwane
83.5

Thugwane leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. The first Black South African to win Olympic gold, in the 1996 marathon.

1. Josia Thugwane
83.5
2. Sergey Bakulin
81.8

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. 🇷🇺 Sergey Bakulin5 seasons played · career day 1,825327 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇿🇦 Josia Thugwane5 seasons played · career day 1,825265 major golds
-19.0% vs Bakulin at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇿🇦 Thugwane003579265621
🇷🇺 Bakulin0045100327579

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.

MetricThugwaneRetiredBakulinRetired
Olympic gold medals1
Marathon personal best in seconds7,642
National titles33
Olympic marathons contested2
Marathon wins5
World Championship titles1
European Cup titles1
Personal best in seconds12,894
World Championship medals1
Dominance w25%8280
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%7872
Honours w20%8082
Statistics w15%8484

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Thugwane83.5
Bakulin81.8
The people
Thugwane
Bakulin

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