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Takahashi vs Nikolić

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
TakahashiWinner
80.7

Takahashi wins: Dominance, Honours

Nikolić
80.7

Nikolić 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
🇯🇵 Naoko Takahashi
80.7

Takahashi leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Olympic marathon champion in 2000 and the first woman to run under 2:20.

1. Naoko Takahashi
80.7
2. Vera Nikolić
80.7

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. 🇯🇵 Naoko Takahashi5 seasons played · career day 1,825432 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇷🇸 Vera Nikolić5 seasons played · career day 1,82625 major golds
-94.2% vs Takahashi at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇯🇵 Takahashi0072154432716
🇷🇸 Nikolić0012182159

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.

MetricTakahashiRetiredNikolićRetired
Olympic gold medals1
World record marathon2.195
Berlin Marathon wins2
Asian Games golds1
Tokyo Marathon wins1
European titles1
World records set1
European Indoor titles1
800 m personal best2
Career years9
Dominance w25%8078
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%7070
Honours w20%8078
Statistics w15%8288

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Takahashi80.7
Nikolić80.7
The people
Takahashi
Nikolić

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