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Defar vs Riedel

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
RiedelWinner
88.4

Riedel wins: Honours

Defar
88.3

Defar wins: Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

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Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇩🇪 Lars Riedel
88.4

Riedel leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Five world discus titles and Olympic gold in Atlanta 1996.

1. Lars Riedel
88.4
2. Meseret Defar
88.3

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. 🇩🇪 Lars Riedel5 seasons played · career day 2,921338.1 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇪🇹 Meseret Defar5 seasons played · career day 2,92171.5 major golds
-78.9% vs Riedel at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇪🇹 Defar000028.7385.75
🇩🇪 Riedel000066.2409.64

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.

MetricDefarRetiredRiedelRetired
Olympic golds21
World Championship golds25
World indoor titles5
World records5
5000m best (min)14.29
European titles1
Best throw (m)71.5
Olympic medals2
Dominance w25%8888
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%8484
Honours w20%8890
Statistics w15%9088

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Riedel88.4
Defar88.3
The people
Defar
Riedel

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