Greatest of all time
Who is the
greatest athlete
of all time?
The GOATs, legends, stars and prospects of every sport, judged by how dominant they were in their own era.
Explore sports and athletes
- Apex Legends — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Blind Football (Paralympic) — GOAT: Ricardinho, Jefinho
- Boccia (Paralympic) — GOAT: Jeong Ho-won, Dirceu Pinto
- Bowling — GOAT: Walter Ray Williams Jr.
- Brawl Stars — GOAT: Tensai
- Breaking — GOAT: Menno van Gorp
- Bridge — GOAT: Bob Hamman
- Button Football — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Call of Duty — GOAT: Ian “Crimsix” Porter
- Chase Tag — GOAT: Kyle Soderman
- Checkers (English Draughts) — GOAT: Marion Tinsley
- Chinese Chess (Xiangqi) — GOAT: Hu Ronghua
- Classic Tetris — GOAT: Jonas Neubauer
- CrossFire — GOAT: Wang “N9” Hao
- Dakar Rally — GOAT: Stéphane Peterhansel
- Dominoes — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Drag Racing — GOAT: John Force
- Dragon Ball FighterZ — GOAT: Goichi “GO1” Kishida
- Drifting — GOAT: James Deane
- EA Sports FC — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Endurance Racing (Le Mans) — GOAT: Tom Kristensen
- Formula 1 — GOAT: Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher
- Formula E — GOAT: Jean-Éric Vergne, Pascal Wehrlein
- Fortnite — GOAT: Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf
- Free Fire — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Freestyle Football — GOAT: Séan Garnier
- Freestyle Wrestling (Freestyle) — GOAT: Kaori Icho
- Freestyle Wrestling (Freestyle) — GOAT: Buvaisar Saitiev
- GeoGuessr — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Go (Baduk or Weiqi) — GOAT: Lee Chang-ho, Go Seigen
- Goalball (Paralympic) — GOAT: Leomon Moreno
- Honor of Kings — GOAT: Peng “Fly” Yunfei
- Ice Dance (Mixed) — GOAT: Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir
- IndyCar — GOAT: A.J. Foyt
- Isle of Man TT — GOAT: Michael Dunlop
- Karting — GOAT: Mike Wilson
- Men’s 3000 m Steeplechase — GOAT: Ezekiel Kemboi
- Men’s 3x3 Basketball — GOAT: Dušan Domović Bulut
- Men’s 400 m — GOAT: Michael Johnson
- Men’s Alpine Skiing — GOAT: Ingemar Stenmark
- Men’s American Football — GOAT: Tom Brady
- Men’s Archery — GOAT: Kim Woo-jin
- Men’s Arm Wrestling — GOAT: John Brzenk
- Men’s Artistic Gymnastics — GOAT: Nikolai Andrianov, Kohei Uchimura
- Men’s Artistic Swimming — GOAT: Bill May
- Men’s Australian Football — GOAT: Gary Ablett Sr.
- Men’s Badminton — GOAT: Lin Dan
- Men’s Baseball — GOAT: Babe Ruth
- Men’s Basketball — GOAT: Michael Jordan, LeBron James
- Men’s Beach Handball — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Men’s Beach Soccer — GOAT: João Madjer
- Men’s Beach Tennis — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Men’s Beach Volleyball — GOAT: Emanuel Rego
- Men’s Biathlon — GOAT: Ole Einar Bjørndalen
- Men’s Bike Trials — GOAT: Benito Ros, Jack Carthy
- Men’s BMX — GOAT: Dave Mirra
- Men’s Bobsleigh — GOAT: Francesco Friedrich
- Men’s Bodybuilding — GOAT: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Coleman
- Men’s Boxing — GOAT: Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson
- Men’s Canoeing — GOAT: Tony Estanguet, Sebastian Brendel
- Men’s Chess — GOAT: Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen
- Men’s Cliff Diving — GOAT: Gary Hunt
- Men’s Counter-Strike — GOAT: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
- Men’s Cricket — GOAT: Don Bradman, Virat Kohli
- Men’s Cross-Country Skiing — GOAT: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
- Men’s CrossFit — GOAT: Mat Fraser
- Men’s Curling — GOAT: Kevin Martin
- Men’s Darts — GOAT: Phil Taylor
- Men’s Decathlon — GOAT: Ashton Eaton
- Men’s Discus Throw — GOAT: Virgilijus Alekna
- Men’s Diving — GOAT: Greg Louganis
- Men’s Dota 2 — GOAT: Johan “N0tail” Sundstein
- Men’s Draughts — GOAT: Alexei Chizhov
- Men’s Fencing — GOAT: Edoardo Mangiarotti, Aladár Gerevich
- Men’s Field Hockey — GOAT: Dhyan Chand
- Men’s Figure Skating — GOAT: Yuzuru Hanyu
- Men’s Flag Football — GOAT: Darrell “Housh” Doucette
- Men’s Floorball — GOAT: Mika Kohonen
- Men’s Football — GOAT: Lionel Messi, Pelé
- Men’s Footvolley — GOAT: Bello
- Men’s Freediving — GOAT: Alexey Molchanov
- Men’s Freestyle Skiing — GOAT: Mikaël Kingsbury
- Men’s Futsal — GOAT: Ricardinho, Falcão
- Men’s Gaelic Football — GOAT: Colm Cooper, Mick O’Connell
- Men’s Golf — GOAT: Tiger Woods
- Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling — GOAT: Aleksandr Karelin, Mijaín López
- Men’s Hammer Throw — GOAT: Yuriy Sedykh
- Men’s Handball — GOAT: Gheorghe Gruia
- Men’s High Jump — GOAT: Mutaz Essa Barshim
- Men’s Hurdles — GOAT: Edwin Moses
- Men’s Hurling — GOAT: Henry Shefflin
- Men’s Hyrox — GOAT: Hunter McIntyre
- Men’s Ice Hockey — GOAT: Wayne Gretzky
- Men’s Javelin Throw — GOAT: Jan Železný
- Men’s Jiu-Jitsu — GOAT: Marcus Almeida
- Men’s Judo — GOAT: Teddy Riner
- Men’s Kabaddi — GOAT: Pardeep Narwal
- Men’s Karate — GOAT: Rafael Aghayev
- Men’s Kickboxing — GOAT: Semmy Schilt, Ernesto Hoost
- Men’s Kings League — GOAT: Kelvin Oliveira
- Men’s Kitesurfing — GOAT: Aaron Hadlow
- Men’s Lacrosse — GOAT: Gary Gait
- Men’s League of Legends — GOAT: Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok
- Men’s Long Jump — GOAT: Mike Powell, Carl Lewis
- Men’s Long-Distance Running — GOAT: Eliud Kipchoge
- Men’s Luge — GOAT: Armin Zöggeler, Georg Hackl
- Men’s Middle Distance (800 m & 1500 m) — GOAT: Hicham El Guerrouj
- Men’s MMA — GOAT: Jon Jones
- Men’s Modern Pentathlon — GOAT: András Balczó
- Men’s Mountain Biking — GOAT: Nino Schurter
- Men’s Muay Thai — GOAT: Samart Payakaroon
- Men’s Nordic Combined — GOAT: Eric Frenzel
- Men’s Open Water Swimming — GOAT: Thomas Lurz, Florian Wellbrock
- Men’s Orienteering — GOAT: Thierry Gueorgiou
- Men’s Padel — GOAT: Fernando Belasteguín
- Men’s Pickleball — GOAT: Ben Johns
- Men’s Pole Vault — GOAT: Armand Duplantis
- Men’s Pool — GOAT: Efren “Bata” Reyes
- Men’s Powerlifting — GOAT: Ed Coan
- Men’s Race Walking — GOAT: Robert Korzeniowski
- Men’s Road Cycling — GOAT: Eddy Merckx
- Men’s Rowing — GOAT: Steve Redgrave
- Men’s Rugby League — GOAT: Andrew Johns, Cameron Smith
- Men’s Rugby Union — GOAT: Jonah Lomu
- Men’s Sailing — GOAT: Ben Ainslie
- Men’s Sepak Takraw — GOAT: Suebsak Pansueb
- Men’s Shooting — GOAT: Jin Jong-oh, Vincent Hancock
- Men’s Short Track — GOAT: Viktor Ahn
- Men’s Shot Put — GOAT: Ryan Crouser
- Men’s Skateboarding — GOAT: Nyjah Huston, Bob Burnquist
- Men’s Skeleton — GOAT: Martins Dukurs
- Men’s Ski Jumping — GOAT: Matti Nykänen
- Men’s Ski Mountaineering — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Men’s Snooker — GOAT: Ronnie O’Sullivan
- Men’s Snowboarding — GOAT: Shaun White
- Men’s Speed Skating — GOAT: Sven Kramer
- Men’s Sport Climbing — GOAT: Adam Ondra
- Men’s Sprinting — GOAT: Usain Bolt
- Men’s Squash — GOAT: Jahangir Khan
- Men’s Strongman — GOAT: Mariusz Pudzianowski
- Men’s Sumo — GOAT: Hakuhō
- Men’s Surfing — GOAT: Kelly Slater
- Men’s Swimming — GOAT: Michael Phelps
- Men’s Table Tennis — GOAT: Ma Long
- Men’s Taekwondo — GOAT: Steven López
- Men’s Tennis — GOAT: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal
- Men’s Track Cycling — GOAT: Chris Hoy
- Men’s Trampoline — GOAT: Dong Dong, Ivan Litvinovich
- Men’s Triathlon — GOAT: Jan Frodeno, Alistair Brownlee
- Men’s Triple Jump — GOAT: Christian Taylor
- Men’s Ultimate Frisbee — GOAT: Beau Kittredge
- Men’s Ultrarunning & Trail — GOAT: Kilian Jornet
- Men’s Volleyball — GOAT: Giba, Karch Kiraly
- Men’s Wakeboarding — GOAT: Darin Shapiro
- Men’s Water Polo — GOAT: Dezső Gyarmati
- Men’s Weightlifting — GOAT: Lasha Talakhadze
- Men’s Wheelchair Basketball — GOAT: Patrick Anderson
- Men’s Wheelchair Tennis — GOAT: Shingo Kunieda
- Men’s Windsurfing — GOAT: Robby Naish, Antoine Albeau
- Mobile Legends — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Motocross — GOAT: Stefan Everts
- MotoGP — GOAT: Giacomo Agostini
- Motorcycle Trials — GOAT: Toni Bou
- NASCAR — GOAT: Richard Petty
- Overwatch — GOAT: Park “Profit” Joon-yeong
- Pair Skating (Mixed) — GOAT: Irina Rodnina
- Para Alpine Skiing (Paralympic) — GOAT: Gerd Schönfelder, Reinhild Möller
- Para Archery (Paralympic) — GOAT: Zahra Nemati
- Para Athletics (Paralympic) — GOAT: Franz Nietlispach, Chantal Petitclerc
- Para Badminton (Paralympic) — GOAT: Cheah Liek Hou
- Para Canoe (Paralympic) — GOAT: Curtis McGrath
- Para Cycling (Paralympic) — GOAT: Sarah Storey
- Para Ice Hockey (Paralympic) — GOAT: Declan Farmer
- Para Judo (Paralympic) — GOAT: Antônio Tenório
- Para Nordic Skiing (Paralympic) — GOAT: Ragnhild Myklebust
- Para Powerlifting (Paralympic) — GOAT: Siamand Rahman
- Para Swimming (Paralympic) — GOAT: Trischa Zorn
- Para Table Tennis (Paralympic) — GOAT: Natalia Partyka
- Para Triathlon (Paralympic) — GOAT: Martin Schulz, Grace Norman
- Parkour — GOAT: David Belle
- Poker — GOAT: Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth
- PUBG Mobile — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Rainbow Six Siege — GOAT: Niclas “Pengu” Mouritzen
- Rally — GOAT: Sébastien Loeb
- Rocket League — GOAT: Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant, Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver
- Rummikub — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Scrabble — GOAT: Nigel Richards
- Shogi — GOAT: Yoshiharu Habu
- Sim Racing — GOAT: Jarno Opmeer
- Sitting Volleyball (Paralympic) — GOAT: Morteza Mehrzad
- Speedcubing — GOAT: Feliks Zemdegs
- Speedway — GOAT: Ivan Mauger, Tony Rickardsson, Bartosz Zmarzlik
- StarCraft — GOAT: Lee “Flash” Young-ho
- Street Fighter — GOAT: Daigo Umehara
- Super Smash Bros. — GOAT: Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, Leonardo “MkLeo” López
- Superbike — GOAT: Jonathan Rea
- Table Football (Foosball) — GOAT: Frédéric Collignon
- Tekken — GOAT: Arslan Ash
- Teqball — GOAT: Ádám Blázsovics
- Typing — GOAT: Sean Wrona
- Valorant (Inclusive) — GOAT: Ava “florescent” Eugene
- Valorant (Mixed) — GOAT: Erick “aspas” Santos
- Wheelchair Fencing (Paralympic) — GOAT: Beatrice “Bebe” Vio, Yu Chui Yee
- Wheelchair Rugby (Paralympic) — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s 3000 m Steeplechase — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s 3x3 Basketball — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s 400 m — GOAT: Marie-José Pérec
- Women’s Alpine Skiing — GOAT: Mikaela Shiffrin
- Women’s American Football — GOAT: Allison Cahill
- Women’s Archery — GOAT: Kim Soo-nyung
- Women’s Arm Wrestling — GOAT: Sarah Bäckman
- Women’s Artistic Gymnastics — GOAT: Simone Biles
- Women’s Artistic Swimming — GOAT: Natalia Ishchenko, Svetlana Romashina
- Women’s Australian Football — GOAT: Erin Phillips
- Women’s Badminton — GOAT: Zhang Ning
- Women’s Baseball — GOAT: Doris Sams
- Women’s Basketball — GOAT: Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson
- Women’s Beach Handball — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Beach Soccer — GOAT: Adriele Rocha
- Women’s Beach Tennis — GOAT: Giulia Gasparri
- Women’s Beach Volleyball — GOAT: Misty May-Treanor
- Women’s Biathlon — GOAT: Magdalena Neuner
- Women’s Bike Trials — GOAT: Karin Moor
- Women’s BMX — GOAT: Hannah Roberts, Mariana Pajón
- Women’s Bobsleigh — GOAT: Kaillie Humphries
- Women’s Bodybuilding — GOAT: Iris Kyle
- Women’s Boxing — GOAT: Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields
- Women’s Canoeing — GOAT: Birgit Fischer, Lisa Carrington
- Women’s Chess — GOAT: Judit Polgar
- Women’s Cliff Diving — GOAT: Rhiannan Iffland
- Women’s Counter-Strike — GOAT: Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova
- Women’s Cricket — GOAT: Ellyse Perry
- Women’s Cross-Country Skiing — GOAT: Marit Bjørgen
- Women’s CrossFit — GOAT: Tia-Clair Toomey
- Women’s Curling — GOAT: Jennifer Jones
- Women’s Darts — GOAT: Trina Gulliver
- Women’s Discus Throw — GOAT: Sandra Perković
- Women’s Diving — GOAT: Fu Mingxia
- Women’s Dota 2 — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Draughts — GOAT: Zoja Golubeva
- Women’s Fencing — GOAT: Valentina Vezzali
- Women’s Field Hockey — GOAT: Luciana Aymar
- Women’s Figure Skating — GOAT: Kim Yuna
- Women’s Flag Football — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Floorball — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Football — GOAT: Marta
- Women’s Footvolley — GOAT: Natalia Guitler
- Women’s Freediving — GOAT: Natalia Molchanova
- Women’s Freestyle Skiing — GOAT: Eileen Gu
- Women’s Futsal — GOAT: Amandinha
- Women’s Gaelic Football — GOAT: Cora Staunton
- Women’s Golf — GOAT: Annika Sörenstam
- Women’s Hammer Throw — GOAT: Anita Włodarczyk
- Women’s Handball — GOAT: Cristina Neagu
- Women’s Heptathlon — GOAT: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Nafissatou Thiam
- Women’s High Jump — GOAT: Stefka Kostadinova, Yaroslava Mahuchikh
- Women’s Hurdles — GOAT: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
- Women’s Hyrox — GOAT: Lauren Weeks
- Women’s Ice Hockey — GOAT: Marie-Philip Poulin
- Women’s Javelin Throw — GOAT: Barbora Špotáková
- Women’s Jiu-Jitsu — GOAT: Beatriz Mesquita
- Women’s Judo — GOAT: Ryoko Tani
- Women’s Karate — GOAT: Sandra Sánchez
- Women’s Kickboxing — GOAT: Anissa Meksen
- Women’s Kitesurfing — GOAT: Gisela Pulido
- Women’s Lacrosse — GOAT: Jen Adams
- Women’s League of Legends — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Long Jump — GOAT: Jackie Joyner-Kersee
- Women’s Long-Distance Running — GOAT: Grete Waitz
- Women’s Luge — GOAT: Natalie Geisenberger
- Women’s Middle Distance (800 m & 1500 m) — GOAT: Faith Kipyegon
- Women’s MMA — GOAT: Amanda Nunes, Valentina Shevchenko
- Women’s Modern Pentathlon — GOAT: Laura Asadauskaitė
- Women’s Mountain Biking — GOAT: Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå
- Women’s Muay Thai — GOAT: Valentina Shevchenko
- Women’s Netball — GOAT: Irene van Dyk
- Women’s Netball — GOAT: Irene van Dyk
- Women’s Open Water Swimming — GOAT: Ana Marcela Cunha
- Women’s Orienteering — GOAT: Simone Niggli-Luder, Tove Alexandersson
- Women’s Padel — GOAT: Carolina Navarro
- Women’s Pickleball — GOAT: Anna Leigh Waters
- Women’s Pole Vault — GOAT: Yelena Isinbayeva
- Women’s Pool — GOAT: Allison Fisher
- Women’s Powerlifting — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Race Walking — GOAT: Liu Hong, María Pérez
- Women’s Rhythmic Gymnastics — GOAT: Yevgeniya Kanayeva
- Women’s Road Cycling — GOAT: Marianne Vos
- Women’s Rowing — GOAT: Elisabeta Lipă
- Women’s Rugby Union — GOAT: Portia Woodman
- Women’s Sailing — GOAT: Marit Bouwmeester
- Women’s Shooting — GOAT: Kim Rhode
- Women’s Short Track — GOAT: Arianna Fontana
- Women’s Shot Put — GOAT: Natalya Lisovskaya
- Women’s Skateboarding — GOAT: Rayssa Leal
- Women’s Skeleton — GOAT: Lizzy Yarnold
- Women’s Ski Jumping — GOAT: Sara Takanashi
- Women’s Ski Mountaineering — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Snooker — GOAT: Reanne Evans
- Women’s Snowboarding — GOAT: Chloe Kim
- Women’s Softball — GOAT: Lisa Fernandez
- Women’s Speed Skating — GOAT: Ireen Wüst
- Women’s Sport Climbing — GOAT: Janja Garnbret
- Women’s Sprinting — GOAT: Florence Griffith-Joyner
- Women’s Squash — GOAT: Nicol David
- Women’s Strongman — GOAT: Aneta Florczyk
- Women’s Surfing — GOAT: Stephanie Gilmore
- Women’s Swimming — GOAT: Katie Ledecky
- Women’s Table Tennis — GOAT: Wang Nan
- Women’s Taekwondo — GOAT: No consensus yet
- Women’s Tennis — GOAT: Serena Williams
- Women’s Track Cycling — GOAT: Laura Kenny, Anna Meares
- Women’s Trampoline — GOAT: Rosie MacLennan
- Women’s Triathlon — GOAT: Daniela Ryf, Chrissie Wellington
- Women’s Triple Jump — GOAT: Yulimar Rojas
- Women’s Ultrarunning & Trail — GOAT: Courtney Dauwalter
- Women’s Volleyball — GOAT: Regla Torres, Mireya Luis
- Women’s Wakeboarding — GOAT: Raimi Merritt, Julia Rick
- Women’s Water Polo — GOAT: Maggie Steffens
- Women’s Weightlifting — GOAT: Li Wenwen
- Women’s Wheelchair Basketball — GOAT: Chantal Benoit
- Women’s Wheelchair Tennis — GOAT: Esther Vergeer
- Women’s Windsurfing — GOAT: Sarah-Quita Offringa
Methodology
How an athlete becomes a GOAT
Comparing different eras is unfair if we ignore context. That is why the main factor is how dominant the athlete was in their own time, against the elite rivals they actually faced — and how often they top rankings and specialist lists.
Fact-check level
Each sport shows how thoroughly its list was verified.
- HighHigh-impact sources, cited and verified.
- MediumLower-impact sources, cited and verified.
- LowQuick research across a few sources, not cited.