Who is better, James or Smith?
Kirani James leads with a GOAT score of 83.7 against 83.6 for Tommie Smith — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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James vs Smith
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Kirani James above Tommie Smith: 83.7 vs 83.6. Kirani James leads on Longevity, Honours. Tommie Smith leads on Dominance, Peak, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
JamesWinner
83.7James wins: Longevity, Honours
Smith
83.6Smith wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to AthleticsShareable URL · /compare/kirani-james-vs-tommie-smith
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇬🇩 Kirani James
83.7
James leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Kirani James
2. Tommie Smith
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. 🇬🇩 Kirani James5 seasons played · career day 2,555219.8 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Tommie Smith5 seasons played · career day 1,82513 major golds
-94.1% vs James at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇩 James | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 132.04 | 308.05 |
| 🇺🇸 Smith | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 19 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | JamesActive | SmithRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 1 | — |
| Olympic medals | 3 | — |
| World Championship golds | 1 | — |
| 400m best (sec) | 43.74 | — |
| World junior titles | 2 | — |
| Olympic gold medals | — | 1 |
| World records | — | 11 |
| 200 m Olympic record | — | 19.83 |
| NCAA titles | — | 3 |
| AAU titles | — | 3 |
| Dominance w25% | 80 | 88 |
| Peak w20% | 90 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 80 | 66 |
| Honours w20% | 84 | 82 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 88 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
James83.7
Smith83.6
FAQ
Where does Smith beat James?
Smith scores higher on peak, dominance, statistics. James leads on honours, longevity.
How is the James vs Smith score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. James: 83.7, Smith: 83.6.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for James vs Smith. 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.