Caster Semenya is SA's most searched sportswoman

Caster Semenya is SA’s most popular sportswoman, based on a study of Google search data commissioned by a British health club chain.

Semenya, the Olympic 800m champion at London 2012 and Rio 2016 who didn’t compete at Tokyo 2020, received 183,300 searches annually, PureGym said in a statement on Thursday.

The second-highest was amputee swimming star Natalie du Toit on 26,160 followed by former running queen Zola Budd (22,500), cricketer Dane van Niekerk (10,260) and retired tennis ace Amanda Coetzer fifth on 7,270 searches.

Penny Heyns, the only woman in history to have won the Olympic breaststroke double, at Atlanta 1996, was eighth on 420.

The planet’s most searched athlete was former cage-fighting star Ronda Rousey on 11.86-million, ahead of gymnast Simone Biles on 8.42-million. Venus Williams was seventh on 5.9-million, yet her more successful sister, Serena, did not feature on any of the lists provided.

Biles was the most searched woman athlete in the US, however.

In Britain the No.1 was footballer Alex Scott on 1.58-million while former middle distance heroine Kelly Holmes, the 800m and 1,500m champion at Athens 2004, was sixth on 247,400.

Tennis player Ashleigh Barty topped the list in Australia, while athletes Derartu Tulu and Vivian Cheruiyot were the most searched in Ethiopia and Kenya respectively.

Organisers said they compiled a list of the most decorated sports stars from around the world and using Google Keyword Planner established the average yearly search volume for each sportswoman.