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Nicolai vs Bugajenkovs

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BugajenkovsWinner
87.6

Bugajenkovs wins: Dominance, Honours

Nicolai
87.4

Nicolai wins: Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Volleyball

Shareable URL · /compare/paolo-nicolai-vs-ivans-bugajenkovs

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇱🇻 Ivans Bugajenkovs
87.6

Bugajenkovs leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Double Olympic champion in 1964 and 1968 with the Soviet Union.

1. Ivans Bugajenkovs
87.6
2. Paolo Nicolai
87.4

Category breakdown

Season form · Titles per season

Career timeline · Titles 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 · Titles per season
1. 🇱🇻 Ivans Bugajenkovs5 seasons played · career day 1,826364 titles
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇮🇹 Paolo Nicolai5 seasons played · career day 1,826325 titles
-10.7% vs Bugajenkovs at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇮🇹 Nicolai0055115250675
🇱🇻 Bugajenkovs0058123276690

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.

MetricNicolaiActiveBugajenkovsRetired
Olympic medals1
European titles22
World Tour titles8
World Championship medals1
Olympic appearances4
Olympic gold medals2
World Championship gold medals1
Soviet league titles6
National team years11
Dominance w25%8486
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%8680
Honours w20%8894
Statistics w15%8886

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Bugajenkovs87.6
Nicolai87.4
The people
Nicolai
Bugajenkovs

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Make your case for Nicolai vs Bugajenkovs. 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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