Chinese swimmer Sun Yang,has been named to the ESPN World Fame 100. He checks in at #43 on the list, which is a decline from his rank of 17th on the 2018 list.
Sun is currently the subject of a WADA appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for punishment from his actions toward an anti-doping test conducted earlier this year after a FINA dodping panel declined to sanction the swimmer.
Last year, 3 swimmers (all Chinese) made the list; this year, Sun is the only aquatic sport athlete among the top 100, with recently-retired Ning Zetao and Fu Yuanhui dropping out of the top 100.
ESPN estimates Sun as having $2.46 million in endorsements annually and a total social media following of 32.6 million on the Chinese social media site Weibo.
ESPN uses a number of factors to determine an athlete’s “fame,” which does not focus exclusively on positive references:
- “Search score,” which measures how often an athlete’s name is Googled. Based on a weighted average of an athlete’s Google Trends peak score (how much that athlete spiked on their most searched day) and their average score (how much they were searched throughout 2018, on average). Weibo was used in China, because Google is blocked there.
- Endorsement dollars, utilizing a range of sources like Darren Rovell and Forbes to estimate athletes’ endorsements.
- Social media followers, utilizing only the number from their most popular account.
Soccer players hold down 3 of the top 4 spots, with basketball player LeBron James checking in at #2. The top 4 remained the same, with MMA fighter Conor McGregor vaulting into the top 5 on this year’s list.
Sun is the only Chinese athlete on the list. He is given a search score of 1, and while his endorsements are far below most of those around him on the list, he is buoyed by his massive social media following.
On the initial list in 2016, Michael Phelps was the only swimmer included, checking in at #46. In 2017, China’s Ning Zetao ranked 66th and American swimmer Ryan Lochte was ranked 67th.
The 27-year old Sun has 6 Olympic medals, including 3 golds: the 400 free in 2012, the 1500 free in 2012, and the 200 free in 2016. He also has 9 World Championships in long course, and 9 Asian Games gold medals.
2019 ESPN World Fame Top 10 (Search Score/Endorsements/Social Following):
- Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer, Portugal (100/$37mm/148mm)
- LeBron James, basketball, United States (47/$52mm/45.3mm)
- Lionel Messi, soccer, Argentina (54/$28mm/103.1mm)
- Neymar, soccer, Brazil (55/$19mm/107.2mm)
- Conor McGregor, MMA, Ireland (100/$15mm/29.7mm)
- Roger Federer, tennis, Switzerland (23/$41.5mm/14.5mm)
- Virat Kohli, cricket, India (25/$20mm/37.1mm)
- Rafael Nadal, tennis, Spain (12/$29.3mm/15.6mm)
- Steph Curry, basketball, United States (12/$42mm/23mm)
- Tiger Woods, golf, United States (20/$42mm/6.4mm)
For what it’s worth, swimming is doing better than baseball, which has one player (Bryce Harper) on the list.
Let’s also remember that these lists aren’t perfect indicators. It’s kind of funny that the #5 ranked athlete lost every single competition he entered. He also ranks highly perhaps more to do notoriety than his performance, and his endorsement potential might be less than some others. Also, Modric won the Golden Ball, yet ranked behind about 15 other soccer players.
Google search results/frequency can mean popularity or association with bad publicity events (not exclusive of positive reference!). That’s an interesting way to be included in this Fame 100 list.
With that said, in an non-Olympic year, maybe it is better for swimmers not being on the list….at least until ISL idea becomes reality and swimming drawing money and attention as other sports.
agree!
not swimming, but Messi and Neymar are easily more famous than Lebron James.
Obviously depends on your perspectiiive.
Like a worldwide, not only US kinda perspective
I see why Fina kiss his butt now
Would have been nice to have a swimmer who didn’t use PEDs represent…
The nature of the search score means that fact probably helped him get on the list.
@Braden Keith:
Yeah, I noticed that last week. My first thought was this — could it be Sun’s enormous social popularity in China is preventing WADA (and FINA) from banning him for (repeated) doping protocol violations? It’s a shame that that thought even crossed my mind.
Also seeing Ning Zetao there in the 80s
Nevermind. But 2019 list is linking to 2018 list.
It looks like Fu Yuanhui is on the list at #89. She’s listed as a swimmer.
She is the most popular and famous female athlete active in Chinese sports circle