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Former LSU track star is the most popular Olympic athlete in Louisiana, data shows
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A former LSU star is recognized as the most popular Olympic athlete in Louisiana.
According to data collected by Bet Online, Sha'Carri Richardson is the most popular athlete who is participating in the 2024 Olympics in Louisiana. The data comes from geotagged tweets from X, formerly known as Twitter, over the last month leading up to the Olympic games. Researchers tracked tweets, hashtags and keyword phrases.
Richardson is popular in Mississippi as well, data shows.
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was the most popular athlete, as she recorded being the top searched in 27 states.
Richardson was the No. 1-ranked sprinter in 2018 before heading to LSU. She set the collegiate record in the 2019 outdoor meet, where she beat her personal record and won her first NCAA title.
In a world-ranking system created by World Athletics, Richardson ranks sixth in the world for track & field events and first in the women's 100m.
For Richardson's first Olympic appearance, she will compete in the women's 100m and the women's 4x100m relay.