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Banks vs Ottey

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BanksWinner
87.7

Banks wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics

Ottey
87.6

Ottey wins: Longevity, Honours

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

Shareable URL · /compare/willie-banks-vs-merlene-ottey

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Willie Banks
87.7

Banks leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Held the triple jump world record at 17.97 metres for ten years.

1. Willie Banks
87.7
2. Merlene Ottey
87.6

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. 🇺🇸 Willie Banks5 seasons played · career day 1,825281 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇯🇲 Merlene Ottey5 seasons played · career day 2,55615 major golds
-94.7% vs Banks at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Banks004088281639
🇯🇲 Ottey0000722

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.

MetricBanksRetiredOtteyRetired
World records set1
World record in centimetres1,797
World Championship medals114
US titles6
Olympic finals2
Olympic medals9
Olympic appearances7
200m best (sec)21.64
World Indoor golds3
Dominance w25%8682
Peak w20%9488
Longevity w20%8696
Honours w20%8284
Statistics w15%9290

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Banks87.7
Ottey87.6
The people
Banks
Ottey

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Make your case for Banks vs Ottey. 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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