Sharapova Tops Yahoo! Athlete Searches for 2008

Despite missing almost half of the season due to a nagging right shoulder injury, Maria Sharapova topped the Yahoo! Most Searched Athletes of 2008 list. She was followed by two more superstars of women's sports, mixed martial arts star Gina Carano and IndyCar race driver Danica Patrick.

Sharapova, who won 22 of her first 23 matches of 2008, collecting her third Grand Slam singles title along the way at the Australian Open and even returning to No.1 in the world for a few weeks in the spring, played just one match after Wimbledon, withdrawing from a slew of events after reaggravating the right shoulder injury she had already struggled with over the last two years. But her star power, which has made her one of the prominent faces for several of her sponsors, kept her in the limelight among Yahoo! athlete searches, just as it did for her in 2007 (she was No.1 last year too).

Carano, who began her fighting career in Muay Thai and is currently undefeated in mixed martial arts competition, and Patrick, whose career achievements include becoming the first woman ever to win an IndyCar race - doing so in Japan this past April - ranked No.2 and No.3 on the list, respectively. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and swimmer Amanda Beard rounded out the Top 5. Michael Phelps, who has 14 Olympic golds - the most by anyone ever - was No.6.