Olympians dominate most marketable top ten

21 | 5 | 2014

The World Olympians Association has welcomed the news that 23 Olympians are included in the fifth edition of SportsPro’s annual list of the 50 most marketable athletes in the world for 2014.

The list of international stars compiled by the global sports industry magazine, in association with Eurosport, includes athletes from many different sports and the top 10 contains six Olympians - highlighting the strength of the Olympic Movement within the wider sports landscape.

Having so many Olympians in the top 50 shows what can be achieved when young athletes set out to accomplish their Olympic dream through dedication, hard work, desire and ambition and that all that hard work can have a wider impact on society. Olympians can use their star marketing status to serve as role models for society, to spread Olympic values and to inspire the children to take part in sport and physical activity. The Olympic success in SportsPro’s top 50 demonstrates that Olympians are viewed positively around the world by sports fans, communities and brands – they embody highly esteemed values such as excellence, teamwork and discipline which make them highly desirable marketing assets and very attractive to sponsors.

The 23 Olympians included in the list represent an array of different sports from the Summer and Winter Games including; athletics, baseball, basketball, biathlon, cycling, football, judo, sailing, skiing, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

The Olympians included on the list and their positions within the top 50 are:

• 4 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football
• 5 Gregor Dimitrov - Tennis
• 6 Usain Bolt - Athletics
• 7 Neymar - Football
• 8 Missy Franklin - Swimming
• 9 Blake Griffin - Basketball
• 11 Lionel Messi - Football
• 14 Alex Morgan - Football
• 15 Novak Djkovic - Tennis
• 18 Ronda Rousey - Judo
• 21 Andy Murray - Tennis
• 23 Mikaela Shiffrin - Skiing
• 28 Katarina Johnson-Thompson - Athletics
• 29 Anthony Davis – Basketball
• 31 Victoria Azarenka - Tennis
• 37 James Harden – Basketball
• 38 Fabiana Claudino - Volleyball
• 39 Taylor Phinney - Cycling
• 42 Sir Ben Ainsley - Sailing
• 45 Masahiro Tanaka - Baseball
• 46 Carmelo Anthony - Basketball
• 48 Caroline Wozniacki - Tennis
• 49 Martin Fourcade - Biathlon 

Click Here to see the complete list of SportsPro’s 50 most marketable athletes in the world 2014.