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Budd vs Baptiste

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BuddWinner
78.7

Budd wins: Dominance, Peak

Baptiste
78.7

Baptiste wins: Longevity, Honours, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Athletics

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Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇿🇦 Zola Budd
78.7

Budd leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories. Twice world cross country champion and a barefoot 5000 m world record holder.

1. Zola Budd
78.7
2. Joan Baptiste
78.7

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. 🇿🇦 Zola Budd5 seasons played · career day 1,825436 major golds
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇬🇧 Joan Baptiste5 seasons played · career day 1,825353 major golds
-19.0% vs Budd at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇿🇦 Budd0078170436682
🇬🇧 Baptiste0050110353603

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.

MetricBuddRetiredBaptisteRetired
World Cross Country golds2
World records set2
World record 5000 m14.481
Olympic Games contested2
World junior records3
Commonwealth Games gold medals1
European Championship medals1
British titles2
Olympic appearances1
Relay finals4
Dominance w25%7874
Peak w20%8886
Longevity w20%7274
Honours w20%7678
Statistics w15%8084

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Budd78.7
Baptiste78.7
The people
Budd
Baptiste

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Make your case for Budd vs Baptiste. 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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