This year was big for sports, headlined internationally by two giant marquee events: the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and the Qatar FIFA World Cup. As such, both of those events and the athletes involved in them are some of the top sports-related searches on Google.

However, a trio of tennis stars were the top three most searched athletes on Google globally.

Former college football star Manti Te'o came in as the fourth most searched athlete, thanks to him being the subject of a Netflix documentary titled "Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist." It documented Te'o being the victim of a catfishing scandal while he was starring at Notre Dame.

The fifth and sixth most searched athletes were winter sports athletes Shawn White and Yuzuru Hanyu. White, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, announced his retirement during this year's winter games. Hanyu, a Japanese figure skater who is known for getting Winnie the Pooh toys from his fans, also announced his retirement in 2022.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was the seventh most searched athlete. She spent 294 days detained in Russia after custom service discovered vape cartridges containing marijuana concentrate in her luggage in February. She was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges, but the United States government negotiated a one-for-one prisoner swap involving convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner was able to go home in December.

Retired soccer Gerard Piqué, ex-UFC champion Cain Velasquez and rising Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz round up the Top 10 most Googled athletes around the world in 2022. 

Here are the full Top 10 lists of most searched athletes and sports terms of 2022, according to Google: