Four swimmers make 2024 the year of Google in search lists

On By Littum

Leon Marchand, Florent Manaudou, Summer McIntosh, and Titmus the Arians was shown on Google Trends’ year in searchthe search engine data synopsis for the end of the year.

In France, home to the biggest sporting event of the year, Leon Marchand topped the list of athletes. The 22-year-old Toulouse native brought home four gold medals, launching him to superstardom in France and around the world.

As no. 6 on the French list was the sprint veteran Florent Manaudou. The 34-year-old has won medals for France in the 50 free in each of the last four Olympic Games. He also anchored France to a bronze medal in the 400 medley relay (Marchand also swam the breaststroke on this relay).

France was the only country where a swimmer was number 1, but Canada was the closest. Eighteen-year-old phenomenon Summer McIntosh finished 2024 as #2 among athletes in his home country. She ranked behind only Algerian Olympic champion boxer Imane Khelif. McIntosh brought home four Olympic medals and was the first Canadian to ever win three golds in one Games.

The year-end lists for Australia did not explicitly include a top athlete list. However, it did include an “Aussies” list where the world record holder Titmus the Arians came in at #10. If you only take domestic athletes from this list, she ranks 6th with viral Olympic breakdancer Raygun holding the top spot. For the second consecutive Olympics, Titmus came out on top of an uber-competitive 400 freestyle field. She also took gold in the 4×200 freestyle and claimed the world record in the 200 freestyle at the Australian trials.

An analysis on the main page of Google Trends shows that Marchand was the most searched swimmer worldwide in 2024. THE GOAT Michael Phelps came in at #2, while the Olympic legend Katie Ledecky ranked #3. See side-by-side comparison of the three over time and country by country below. (blue = Marchand, red = Phelps, yellow = Ledecky).

The Olympic year boosted the swimmers compared to last year. Marchand was the only swimmer to make lists in 2023, ranking 6th among athletes in France.