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Olympians Standout Amongst World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes

1 | 6 | 2015

Olympians have cemented their status as powerful global stars according to SportsPro’s elite list of the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes.

Twenty Olympians, including five in the top ten, have been named in the sixth edition of the annual list which measures athletes’ value and influence based on their marketing potential.

The athletes, from 13 different countries and ten different sports, represent the diversity in both the Olympic Movement and the wider sporting community.

Olympic Silver Medallist in football, Neymar is the highest ranked Olympian coming in at number two. He is followed by US swimming sensation and four-time Olympic champion Missy Franklin at four. Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori, who reached the quarterfinals at London 2012, takes the number eight spot and is the highest ranked new entry on the list. Rising star of heptathlon Katarina Johnson-Thompson is at nine and sprint superstar Usain Bolt, with six Olympic Gold Medals rounds off the top ten, making him the only athlete to have made the top ten in all six editions of the list.

The high number of Olympians demonstrates the prominence of the Olympic Games in the international sporting landscape, the athletes’ charisma and their excellence in their sporting field.

Using their star status Olympians can help shine the spotlight on Olympic values and the Olympic Movement and the increased visibility gives Olympians a unique opportunity to spread the message of Olympism further than ever before. The array of sports represented, from badminton to judo, tennis and skiing, will introduce more Olympic role models to children around the world and help inspire them to try something new.

The list of Olympic athletes in order of ranking are:

2. Neymar – Football
4. Missy Franklin – Swimming
8. Kei Nishikori – Tennis
9. Katarina Johnson-Thompson – Track & Field
10. Usain Bolt – Track & Field
13. Grigor Dimitrov – Tennis
14. Novak Djokovic – Tennis
16. Cristiano Ronaldo – Football
18. Mikaela Shiffrin – Skiing
19. Alex Morgan – Football
22. Lionel Messi – Football
26. James Harden – Basketball
27. Marianne Vos – Cycling
28. Gennady Golovkin – Boxing
30. Caroline Wozniacki – Tennis
34. Ronda Rousey – Judo
35. Anthony Joshua – Boxing
36. Chris Paul – Basketball
42. Russell Westbrook – Basketball
44. Seina Nehwal – Badminton

Click here for SportPro’s complete list of 50 most marketable athletes of 2015.