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Barnes vs Semenya

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BarnesWinner
87.2

Barnes wins: Peak, Statistics

Semenya
87.2

Semenya wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/randy-barnes-vs-caster-semenya

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Randy Barnes
87.2

Barnes leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories. World record holder in the shot put at 23.12 m since 1990.

1. Randy Barnes
87.2
2. Caster Semenya
87.2

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. 🇿🇦 Caster Semenya5 seasons played · career day 2,191586.5 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Randy Barnes5 seasons played · career day 2,556110.5 major golds
-81.2% vs Semenya at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Barnes000067.05153.35
🇿🇦 Semenya000115.45350.87941.46

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.

MetricBarnesRetiredSemenyaActive
World records1
Olympic golds12
Olympic medals2
Shot put best23.12
World indoor titles1
World Championship golds3
Commonwealth golds1
800m best (sec)114.25
Consecutive 800m wins30
Dominance w25%8688
Peak w20%9692
Longevity w20%7680
Honours w20%8688
Statistics w15%9488

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Barnes87.2
Semenya87.2
The people
Barnes
Semenya

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Make your case for Barnes vs Semenya. 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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