Phelps and Liu Xiang

Liu Xiang, is the sole Chinese name in the ranks, coming in at number 6.Phelps,ranked 4th,only beat Liu Xiang and the famous US Gymnast Paul Hamm by a small margin. It was very controversial when Hamm, with a wrist fracture, was selected into American gymnastic Olympic team. He then decided to withdraw, attracting still more media attention. 7th is Phelps’ swimming teammate,41-year-old Mother Dara Torres. The 8th is the famous Australian female hurdler Jana Rawlinson who wasn’t able to be selected into the Olympic team because of a toe injury. 9th is American 400 meter specialist Jeremy Wariner, and American famous 200 meter star Allyson Felix is ranked 10th. After an simple Analysis ,it is found that the top 2 are both track and field athletes, and out of the toal 6 of 10 are from track and field.That indicates that as the “mother of sports” the position of track and field is really unshakable as the Olympics is approaching.

However, in the names mentioned in the so called “community media” (Dow Jones searched 13 thousand English news websites,60 thousand English BBS and 2 million English blogs),Phelps was most often mentioned. It shows that Phelps’ position in the hearts of young people who have mastered the new technology better is set. The other 9 athletes in “community media” are: Torres, ranked 2nd;Gay,3rd; Paul Hamm,4th; Powell,5th;Liu Xiang,6th; Sean Johnson (American female Gymnast);Felix,8th; Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain’s marathon beauty),9th;Jeremy Wariner,10th.