Who is better, Ovett or Assefa?
Steve Ovett leads with a GOAT score of 83.4 against 83.3 for Tigst Assefa — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Steve Ovett above Tigst Assefa: 83.4 vs 83.3. Steve Ovett leads on Longevity, Honours. Tigst Assefa leads on Peak, Statistics, Dominance.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →Ovett wins: Longevity, Honours
Assefa wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics
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Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Ovett leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories.
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 Ovett | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 26 |
| 🇪🇹 Assefa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.98 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | OvettRetired | AssefaActive |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic golds | 1 | — |
| World records | 5 | — |
| European titles | 1 | — |
| Commonwealth golds | 1 | — |
| Mile best (sec) | 228.8 | — |
| Marathon world record | — | 2.11 |
| Berlin Marathon wins | — | 2 |
| Olympic medals | — | 1 |
| Marathon major wins | — | 3 |
| Personal best improvement | — | 4 |
| Dominance w25% | 82 | 86 |
| Peak w20% | 90 | 96 |
| Longevity w20% | 80 | 66 |
| Honours w20% | 80 | 78 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 92 |
Steve Ovett leads with a GOAT score of 83.4 against 83.3 for Tigst Assefa — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
Assefa scores higher on peak, dominance, statistics. Ovett leads on honours, longevity.
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Ovett: 83.4, Assefa: 83.3.
Make your case for Ovett vs Assefa. 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.