How It Works
The Elo system, explained simply.
What is Elo?
The Elo rating system was originally designed for chess by Arpad Elo. It assigns a numerical rating to every competitor — when two of them meet, the winner gains rating points and the loser loses them. The amount exchanged depends on the expected outcome.
If a highly-rated athlete beats a lowly-rated one, few points change hands. But an upset? That shifts a lot of points. Over thousands of votes, the cream rises to the top.
How Your Vote Counts
- We show you two athletes side by side
- You click the one you think is better
- Our Elo engine recalculates both athletes' ratings instantly (K-factor 32)
- Rankings update in real time across the entire leaderboard
The Tier System
Athletes are grouped into tiers based on their Elo rating:
- Legendary (2400+) — The all-time greats
- Elite (2000–2399) — Generational talents
- Veteran (1700–1999) — Proven performers
- Contender (1400–1699) — Rising through the ranks
- Rising (1100–1399) — On their way up
- Rookie (<1100) — Just getting started
Every athlete enters the pool at 1500 Elo, so tiers are earned entirely through fan votes.
Keeping It Fair
Votes are recorded with the voter's IP address for basic auditing. A ballot is rejected if you try to pit an athlete against themselves, or if either athlete isn't a valid entry in this site's pool. And because Elo weights every result by the ratings involved, no single vote can swing the rankings on its own — it takes a real trend to move an athlete.