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Smith vs Thorpe

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
SmithWinner
85.5

Smith wins: Peak

Thorpe
85.5

Thorpe wins: Honours

Candidates
Locked to Swimming

Shareable URL · /compare/tatjana-smith-vs-ian-thorpe

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇿🇦 Tatjana Smith
85.5

Smith leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Double Olympic champion and world record holder in the 200 m breaststroke.

1. Tatjana Smith
85.5
2. Ian Thorpe
85.5

Category breakdown

Season form · Form index per season

Career timeline · Form index 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 · Form index per season
1. 🇦🇺 Ian Thorpe5 seasons played · career day 2,19024 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇿🇦 Tatjana Smith5 seasons played · career day 1,82612 major golds
-50.0% vs Thorpe at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇿🇦 Smith0013823
🇦🇺 Thorpe00032035

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.

MetricSmithRetiredThorpeRetired
Olympic gold medals2
Olympic silver medals2
World Championship golds211
World records213
Commonwealth golds410
Olympic golds5
Olympic medals9
400 m freestyle best (s)220.06
Dominance w25%8686
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%7474
Honours w20%8688
Statistics w15%8888

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Smith85.5
Thorpe85.5
The people
Smith
Thorpe

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Make your case for Smith vs Thorpe. 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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