Through the first week of the 2012 London Olympics African American and Latino athletes comprise six of the top 10 most popular Olympians in social media for Team USA according to social media tracking software Starcount, which tracks the 11 largest social media networks in the world.
Olympic gold medal gymnast Gabrielle Douglas, who was not even in the top 10 last week in either the U.S. or world tracker, rocketed past swimming legend Michael Phelps to take the No. 1 spot worldwide. Phelps is No. 2 in both the U.S. and worldwide list. Latino Olympian Ryan Lochte, the only Hispanic in the Top 10 for Team USA, rose from nowhere to become the fifth most popular athlete worldwide and No. 3 in the U.S. Last week Lochte was No. 8 in the U.S. list.
Miami Heat star LeBron James is the only other U.S. athlete in the Top 10 worldwide list at No. 9. He is No. 6 in the U.S. NBA star Kobe Bryant, tennis champion Serena Williams and basketball star Kevin Durant round out the Top 10 list of athletes from diverse backgrounds in the U.S.
We’ll keep monitoring to see how the final social media standings look like next week as well as to see if any Hispanic athletes crack into either the U.S. or worldwide list.
Diverse Athletes and Ryan Lochte Score Olympic Gold in Social Media Tracker of Team USA
