Olympic Games Paris 2024: Top sports in North and South America

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 is drawing closer, and YouGov has produced analysis examining not only how people plan on following the games but also the reasons why. In this piece, based on data from Global Fan Profiles, we look at the sports that consumers are most likely to follow when the games begin on July 26 in Paris. In this piece we examine the five most popular sports in major markets in North America and South America.

In North American markets of the US and Canada, swimming tops the charts unlike elsewhere in the world. Just under a quarter of Americans (23%) and Canadians (24%) say they watch or follow the sport. The love for water-based sports doesn’t end with swimming though as both markets also follow diving events in big numbers. While artistic gymnastics (20% and 18%) claims the second spot in both markets, rhythmic gymnastics also has a sizeable following. Basketball (14%) in the US and hockey (17%) in Canada mark the only differences in the top five list of each market.

Over is South America, soccer is king, claiming the top spot in Brazil (37%) and Argentina (29%). But that’s where the similarities end among the two biggest South American markets. Brazil is big on volleyball (27%) and beach volleyball (24%) – a reflection of the country’s historical dominance in both competitions with them having won more medals across both sports combined than any other country. Brazilians are also interested in swimming (24%) and artistic gymnastics (20%). Football in Argentina is followed by swimming (17%), tennis (16%), artistic gymnastics (15%) and volleyball (15%).

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