Twitter announced its annual list of "most tweeted about" topics and celebrities, including the athletes that were the most talked about this year.
Somehow, the list of "most tweeted about athletes" for 2018 only includes one woman athlete, and it's Serena Williams. The other noteworthy athletes include LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, Kobe Bryant, Kyrie Irving, Tom Brady, Dwayne Wade, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, and Stephen Curry.
Williams is obviously an iconic athlete, and she has had quite a year. The Twitter universe likes to talk about Williams, whether she's spreading awareness about maternal healthcare, speaking out about injustices in her sport, or appearing on covers of magazines. Given how active she is on the social media platform, it's not shocking that she was the most talked-about athlete. But the thing is, lots of incredible moments happened in women's sports this year, so it is somewhat surprising that not one other woman athlete made the list.
To re-cap just a handful of amazing things that women athletes did this year: At the Olympics, figure skater Mirai Nagasu made history when she landed the triple axel in the ladies free skate; the US Women's Hockey Team fought for equal pay and won a gold medal; hundreds of courageous gymnasts came forward about Larry Nassar's sexual abuse; Des Linden became the first woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years; and 20-year-old tennis phenom Naomi Osaka beat Williams at the US Open. Surely, these events garnered Twitter buzz.
If this sounds familiar, it's not the first time women athletes have been slighted by one of these lists. When Forbes announced its list of highest paid athletes this year, there were no women on the list of 100. Ultimately, this is just one year-end list, and it probably won't really impact much. Then again, it does reflect the fact that women athletes typically aren't given the same mainstream attention as men — even though they do just as much work on and off the field.