Radcliffe Leads Coverage of U.K. Athletes in British and Global Media Sources

By Dow Jones Insight Staff

For athletes from the United Kingdom, the Beijing Olympic Games present the chance to compete against the world’s best, and the additional challenge of building interest and excitement in anticipation of the 2012 London Games.

Among the marquee U.K. athletes being tracked by Dow Jones Insight, marathoner Paula Radcliffe garnered the most coverage in traditional and social media sources within and outside the U.K. during the period of July 1 to July 14. Radcliffe received 59% of the 162 total mentions in U.K. sources. But she did better in the global press -- 78% of the 58 mentions found -- as she is one of the better-known British Olympians outside her home country.

Yachtsman Ben Ainslie had 29 mentions, or 18%, of mentions in U.K. sources and 10 mentions, or 17%,

outside the U.K. Middle-distance runner Jo Pavey had 17 mentions, or 10%, in the U.K. and no mentions outside the U.K. Badminton players Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson had eight and six mentions, respectively, or 5% and 4% of the total mentions, in the U.K. Emms and Robertson, who are doubles partners, had 3% and 2%, respectively, of total mentions in sources outside the U.K. Triathlete Helen Tucker received six mentions, or 4%, in U.K. sources but no mentions outside the U.K.

Methodology: Analysis includes 6,000 newspapers, wires, magazines, radio and TV transcripts; about 13,000 current-awareness news sites; 60,000 message boards and about two million blogs.