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Ottey vs Bekele

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BekeleWinner
90.3

Bekele wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics

Ottey
87.6

Ottey wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/merlene-ottey-vs-bekele

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇪🇹 Kenenisa Bekele
90.3

Bekele leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. World records at 5000 m and 10,000 m that lasted 16 years, plus 11 cross-country golds.

1. Kenenisa Bekele
90.3
2. Merlene Ottey
87.6

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. 🇪🇹 Kenenisa Bekele5 seasons played · career day 2,5557,907.9 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇯🇲 Merlene Ottey5 seasons played · career day 2,55615 major golds
-99.8% vs Bekele at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇯🇲 Ottey0000722
🇪🇹 Bekele00004,742.9311,092.93

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.

MetricOtteyRetiredBekeleRetired
Olympic medals9
World Championship medals14
Olympic appearances7
200m best (sec)21.64
World Indoor golds3
Olympic golds3
World Championship golds5
World cross-country golds11
5000 m best (s)757.35
10,000 m best (s)1,577.53
Marathon best (s)7,299
Dominance w25%8289
Peak w20%8893
Longevity w20%9688
Honours w20%8490
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Bekele90.3
Ottey87.6
The people
Ottey
Bekele

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Make your case for Ottey vs Bekele. 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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