Montana's Most Popular Summer Olympian

I'm not a sports fan. I'm an Olympics fan.

My mom coached collegiate gymnastics when I was growing up. Fun fact: she coached at the same school where gold medalist Jade Carey attends.

Probably what I like about the Olympics is the pageantry as much as the sports themselves. Yet, it's also a time when we all witness some of the most impressive and shocking moments of athleticism in the world.

I watched The Magnificent Seven. I watched Michael Phelps. I watched Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.

With the Summer 2024 Olympics quickly approaching, Grand Canyon University looked at Google Search data to get an idea of which athletes people love to watch and determined the "Most Popular U.S. Summer Olympian in Every U.S. State."

Some of these athletes are from years past because they looked at trending data for roughly 20 years. For example, the most popular/searched summer Olympian in Kentucky is Muhammad Ali and the most popular athlete in Alabama is Charles Barkley.

Montana's most popular athlete makes tons of sense, and you may find yourself Googling Kim Rhode right now just like I did.

Montana's Most Popular Summer Olympian

Kim Rhode, a three-time gold medalist, and six-time Olympian who competes in shooting in various events, like trap and skeet, is Montana's most popular Olympian.

You may find yourself Googling her to find out if she's going to be competing this year. It turns out the answer is no. According to the International Shooting Sport Federation, she didn't qualify for the Olympics in 2024 even though she won "the second part of USA Shooting's Olympic Trials Shotgun in Tucson."

But there are some Montana athletes to watch during this year's summer Olympics:

And keep scrolling to see more celebrated Olympians from Montana.