Three famous Chinese swimmers made the nation’s list of ‘Most Influential Chinese Athletes’ at an award ceremony held in Beijing on Monday, November 13th. Conceived by China’s largest online sports platform, Tencent Sports, in cooperation with China Sports Publications Corporation, the awards are intended to acknowledge athletes in a number of areas, including physical condition, performances, media and social media exposure.
Olympic champion Sun Yang topped the list as China’s Most Influential Athlete for the 4th consecutive year, with 2015 World Champion Ning Zetao coming in as #4 on the list.  Fu Yuanhui who surprised even herself  with a 100m backstroke bronze medal in Rio, checked in as #9 on the list that ranked 50 athletes in all.
Per GB Times, ‘sports experts were gathered from different fields to form an assessment team, which involved editing and modifying the athlete list before turning it into the final listing.’
Earlier this year Sun Yang landed on the Forbes China Celebrity List for 2017, representing the only athlete to make the exclusive line-up. He came in at #69 out of 100 personalities compiled by the media outlet.
Yeah, he’s influenced a lot of chinese to start doping. 🙂 lol!!!
It’s interesting to see how Chinese sports are now ranked in terms of influence and value. The list shows swimming, table tennis and women’s volleyball are the most influential. Global popularity is good for our sport. I would like to see more Asian stars like Sun and Schooling. Popularity brings in more elite athletes, $ and prestige.
you must be new to swim swam. schooling and yang are not popular here. schooling lies about practice times and sun is a doper.
Don’t let my username fool you – I have been around swimming for a long long time: I swam in D1 years ago and my two kids are now swimming in D1 programs. I am interested in Asian sports because my business takes me to Asian many times a year. I am completely aware of Sun’s doping history (I condemned it in my many comments on this site and elsewhere), and Schooling’s confidence or arrogance, depending on how it’s viewed. In any case, my comment is about the popularity of our sport globally. Sun and Schooling are two Olympic champions, one dominating mid to long distance free (only one in history to win 200 & 1500) and other other beating… Read more »
So that’s why China has several dopers.
There are actually seven swimmers in the list. Also Xu Jiayu #14, Wang Shun #36, Li Bingjie #46 and Li Zhuhao #50.
Did they mean “most under the influence Chinese athlete”?
I was waiting to see who would make the first doping comment, but this was at least pretty funny.