Who is better, Ottey or Richards-Ross?
Merlene Ottey leads with a GOAT score of 87.6 against 87.5 for Sanya Richards-Ross — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Ottey vs Richards-Ross
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Merlene Ottey above Sanya Richards-Ross: 87.6 vs 87.5. Merlene Ottey leads on Longevity, Statistics. Sanya Richards-Ross leads on Honours, Dominance, Peak.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
OtteyWinner
87.6Ottey wins: Longevity, Statistics
Richards-Ross
87.5Richards-Ross wins: Dominance, Peak, 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
🇯🇲 Merlene Ottey
87.6
Ottey leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Merlene Ottey
2. Sanya Richards-Ross
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. 🇺🇸 Sanya Richards-Ross5 seasons played · career day 2,556246.4 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇯🇲 Merlene Ottey5 seasons played · career day 2,55615 major golds
-93.9% vs Richards-Ross at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇯🇲 Ottey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 22 |
| 🇺🇸 Richards-Ross | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 147.51 | 345.4 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | OtteyRetired | Richards-RossRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic medals | 9 | — |
| World Championship medals | 14 | 8 |
| Olympic appearances | 7 | — |
| 200m best (sec) | 21.64 | — |
| World Indoor golds | 3 | — |
| Olympic golds | — | 5 |
| World Championship golds | — | 5 |
| 400m best (sec) | — | 48.7 |
| Diamond League titles | — | 4 |
| Dominance w25% | 82 | 86 |
| Peak w20% | 88 | 92 |
| Longevity w20% | 96 | 82 |
| Honours w20% | 84 | 90 |
| Statistics w15% | 90 | 88 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Ottey87.6
Richards-Ross87.5
FAQ
Where does Richards-Ross beat Ottey?
Richards-Ross scores higher on peak, dominance, honours. Ottey leads on statistics, longevity.
How is the Ottey vs Richards-Ross score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Ottey: 87.6, Richards-Ross: 87.5.
What do you think?
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