Olympic Gold medallist , Katie Taylor has jumped from rank 8th to 1st to assume the status as Ireland’s most admired sports personality overall, according to the latest Onside Star Monitor 2012, released by leading marketing consultancy Onside Sponsorship.
Taylor has replaced Brian O’Driscoll, who had topped the Onside poll since 2009, with 1 in 4 of those naming their most admired sport star overall singling out the new Olympic Champion. Registering the highest levels achieved by any sports star in the Most Admired Sports Star Overall category of the Onside tracker over the past 5 years, Taylor’s appeal was most marked among Irish 25-44 year olds at 30%, while a high of 29% of adults in Munster named the Bray based boxer.
Other personalities growing their place at the top end of the ongoing survey included Ronan O’Gara and Henry Shefflin, while golfers Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington remained in the Top 10 of the Onside leaderboard, albeit both losing some ground as Taylor dominated the summer headlines.
John Trainor, Founder and Managing Director of Onside said, “ In real terms, an extra ½ million Irish adults now see Katie as the most admirable personality in Irish sport when compared with 2011, and with this growth she has managed to unlock real potential around her marketability in the future.”
Interestingly, recently retired Irish international goalkeeper Shay Given leapfrogged Robbie and Roy Keane to earn the recognition as the Irish personality admired most in Soccer overall. Ireland team-mate Damian Duff, who also recently hung up his international boots, also increased his performance in the Onside survey by 8% year on year, while Richard Dunne increased his appeal by 7% year on year. Meanwhile Robbie Keane admiration levels in the soccer space returned to 2008 levels and were almost half those compared to 2011.
