Athletic Animals vs World Record Athletes, Chart in Text

Key points from the chart

The chart sets five world record performances against animals it calls average: the 100 metre dash, 100 metre freestyle, long jump, free diving and high jump.
In every event at least one ordinary animal beats the human. A domestic cat (30 mph) is shown as faster than Usain Bolt (27.8 mph), and a pit bull (14 ft) out-jumps Javier Sotomayor (8.04 ft).
Each event also has a “best performer”. The largest gap is in free diving, where Cuvier’s beaked whale is given 10,560 ft against William Trubridge’s 406 ft.
The human figures match the record holders’ real marks. Several of the animal figures are popular estimates that current sources do not support (see the notes).

All figures are from the graphic, which does not cite a source.

Every athlete and animal on the chart

Title: Great Athletes vs. Average Animals. Each panel shows coloured bars ending in silhouettes, with the human record in yellow and a circled “Best Performer”. The bars are illustrative and not drawn to scale.

Event	Average animals on the chart	Human record holder	Best performer
100 metre dash	Warthog 30 mph; Southern dart butterfly 37 mph; Domestic cat 30 mph	Usain Bolt 27.8 mph (16 August 2009, World Championships)	Peregrine falcon 184 mph
100 metre freestyle swim	Gray whale 5 mph; Water strider 3.3 mph; “Emporer” penguin 4 mph	Eamon Sullivan 4.7 mph (13 August 2008, Beijing Olympics)	Sailfish 68 mph
Long jump	Puma 30 ft; Impala 30 ft; Red kangaroo 43 ft	Bob Beamon 29.3 ft (18 October 1968, Mexico City Olympics)	Snow leopard 50 ft
Free diving	Otter 328 ft; Walrus 300 ft; King penguin 448 ft	William Trubridge 406 ft (2 May 2016, Vertical Blue competition)	Cuvier’s beaked whale 10,560 ft
High jump	Serval cat 10 ft; Munk’s devil ray 10 ft; Pit bull 14 ft	Javier Sotomayor 8.04 ft (27 July 1993, Salamanca, Spain)	Klipspringer 25 ft

Spellings are as printed, including “Emporer” for emperor penguin. The graphic carries no logo, credit or source line.

How the human records check out

The five human figures are real records, converted to miles per hour or feet. Bolt ran the 100 metres in 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, still the world record, and reached a top speed of 12.32 m/s, which is 27.56 mph [1]. His average over the full 100 metres works out at about 23.4 mph (our arithmetic).

Eamon Sullivan swam 47.05 seconds in the second semi-final of the 100 metre freestyle at the Beijing Olympics, a world record at the time [2]. That is about 4.75 mph (our arithmetic), close to the chart’s 4.7.

Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 metres (29 ft 2 in) at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics on 18 October, a world record that stood for almost 23 years [3]. William Trubridge’s 124 metre free immersion dive on 2 May 2016 is about 407 ft [4]. Javier Sotomayor’s high jump world record of 2.45 metres (8 ft 1/4 in) was set in Salamanca on 27 July 1993 [5].

What the animal figures really mean

The “best performer” numbers are the weakest part of the chart. The peregrine falcon’s speed is a hunting dive (a stoop), not level running. Wikipedia reports claims of over 200 mph and one recorded stoop of 242 mph, but says the highest reliably measured figure is 184 km/h, which is 114 mph [6]. The chart’s 184 appears to be that figure with the unit changed from km/h to mph.

Sailfish were once estimated to reach 80 mph, but research published in 2015 and 2016 indicates they do not exceed about 20 to 35 mph [7]. Cuvier’s beaked whale holds the record for the deepest recorded mammal dive, 2,992 metres or 9,816 ft [8]. The chart’s 10,560 ft is exactly 2 miles.

Notes on this infographic

Peregrine falcon. 184 mph is likely a unit error. The highest reliably measured stoop is 184 km/h (114 mph) [6].
Sailfish. 68 mph is not supported by recent research, which puts the maximum at 20 to 35 mph [7].
Cuvier’s beaked whale. The deepest recorded dive is 2,992 metres (9,816 ft), not 10,560 ft [8].
Usain Bolt. 27.8 mph is close to his measured top speed of 27.56 mph, not his average over the race [1].
Not checked. We could not verify the jump and depth figures for the klipspringer, snow leopard, red kangaroo, pit bull and other “average” animals against a reliable source, so treat them as rough.
Creator. We could not identify who made this graphic.

Questions about athletic animals

How fast are humans compared to other animals?

On this chart Usain Bolt’s 27.8 mph is slower than a warthog, a domestic cat and a southern dart butterfly. Bolt’s measured top speed is 27.56 mph [1].