#	Athlete	Sport	Country	Career	GOAT Score
1	Michael Phelps	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	2000–2016	98.1
4	Michael Gross	Swimming	🇩🇪 Germany	1981–1991	90.3
6	Robert Finke	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	2018–—	90.1
9	Roland Matthes	Swimming	🇩🇪 Germany	1966–1976	89.6
13	Aaron Peirsol	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1999–2011	89.2
14	Adam Peaty	Swimming	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	2012–—	88.7
18	Alexander Popov	Swimming	🇷🇺 Russia	1990–2004	88
21	Gregorio Paltrinieri	Swimming	🇮🇹 Italy	2011–—	87.9
22	Chad le Clos	Swimming	🇿🇦 South Africa	2008–—	87.8
23	Alex Baumann	Swimming	🇨🇦 Canada	1978–1987	87.8
24	Johnny Weissmuller	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1921–1929	87.6
25	Mark Spitz	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1965–1972	87.5
26	László Cseh	Swimming	🇭🇺 Hungary	2003–2021	87.4
27	Tamás Darnyi	Swimming	🇭🇺 Hungary	1985–1993	87.3
28	Nathan Adrian	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	2007–2021	87.3
31	Vladimir Salnikov	Swimming	🇷🇺 Russia	1976–1988	87.1
40	Duke Kahanamoku	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1911–1932	86.8
41	Kieren Perkins	Swimming	🇦🇺 Australia	1990–2000	86.7
42	Ryan Murphy	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	2013–—	86.7
46	Paul Biedermann	Swimming	🇩🇪 Germany	2004–2016	86.5
47	Alain Bernard	Swimming	🇫🇷 France	2002–2012	86.5
51	Grant Hackett	Swimming	🇦🇺 Australia	1996–2016	86.2
52	Ryan Lochte	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	2004–2021	86.1
53	Florian Wellbrock	Swimming	🇩🇪 Germany	2016–—	85.9
55	Rick Carey	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1981–1988	85.8
56	Murray Rose	Swimming	🇦🇺 Australia	1956–1964	85.6
57	Ian Thorpe	Swimming	🇦🇺 Australia	1997–2012	85.5
58	Kosuke Kitajima	Swimming	🇯🇵 Japan	1999–2016	85.5
63	Jason Lezak	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1998–2012	85.1
64	Caeleb Dressel	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	2013–—	85
65	Matt Biondi	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1984–1992	85
67	Mike Barrowman	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1988–1992	85
70	Don Schollander	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1962–1968	84.8
74	Pieter van den Hoogenband	Swimming	🇳🇱 Netherlands	1995–2008	84.3
75	Gary Hall Jr.	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1994–2004	84.3
76	Michael Klim	Swimming	🇦🇺 Australia	1996–2007	84.3
79	Anthony Ervin	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1999–2016	84
81	George Bovell	Swimming	🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago	2000–2016	84
84	Tom Jager	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1984–1992	83.9
85	Léon Marchand	Swimming	🇫🇷 France	2019–—	83.8
86	Yuri Bashkatov	Swimming	🇧🇾 Belarus	1986–1993	83.8
89	Lenny Krayzelburg	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1997–2004	83.6
90	Qin Haiyang	Swimming	🇨🇳 China	2017–—	83.6
91	Ashley Callus	Swimming	🇦🇺 Australia	1998–2012	83.6
92	Roland Schoeman	Swimming	🇿🇦 South Africa	2000–2021	83.5
93	Dániel Gyurta	Swimming	🇭🇺 Hungary	2004–2016	83.5
99	Yohann Ndoye-Brouard	Swimming	🇫🇷 France	2018–—	83.2
100	Yannick Agnel	Swimming	🇫🇷 France	2008–2016	83.1
101	Tom Dolan	Swimming	🇺🇸 United States	1993–2002	83.1
104	Wang Shun	Swimming	🇨🇳 China	2011–—	83

Compare the leaders

Michael Phelps vs Michael Gross

Read the full methodology

Sport lists use the raw In-Sport GOAT Score. Cross-sport lists use the official competition-depth adjustment. No scores are recalculated for this page.

Read the full methodology

Frequently asked questions

How is this ranking calculated?

Five verified components are weighted consistently: dominance, peak, longevity, honours and statistics.

Who is included?

Only verified athletes with sufficient career history, metrics, honours and independent sources are eligible.

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