No really, what’s going on with this list?
For the first time since 2010, there were no female athletes on Forbes’ 2018 list of the world’s top 100 highest-paid athletes, which was released on Tuesday.
Not a single one. Nada. Niks.
At the top of the list is retired boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned a pretty penny and more from his fight last year with Conor McGregor. It’s made him the world’s best-paid athlete for the fourth time in seven years, with over R3,6 billion to his name, reports The Guardian.
Trust and believe, it’s not hard to imagine what luxuries Mayweather spends his cash on.
Joining him in the top 10 are more famous male athletes:
The Real Madrid forward [Cristiano] Ronaldo (R1,3 billion) fell to third behind his rival Lionel Messi (R1,4 billion). The mixed martial artist McGregor and Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar were fourth and fifth, respectively.
LeBron James (basketball), Roger Federer (tennis), Stephen Curry (basketball), Matt Ryan (American football) and Matthew Stafford (American football) concluded the top 10.
And chilling at Number 100? Basketball player Nicholas Batum, with a measly R290 million.
But where are the women at, though?
Serena Williams, the winner of 23 grand slam tennis singles titles who recently made a great comeback to the game nine months after giving birth to her daughter, was the only female representative in last year’s list.
Her off-court and sponsorship earnings landed her R231 million, ranking her #51 out of the entire list.
This fact, along with the absence of women altogether on this year’s list, just goes to show that female athletes are still not getting a fair shake in the equal pay game.
Ball’s in your court, sports organisers.
[source:guardian]
