paragraph_text: Weeks later, Disney launched the series following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987 with a commercial featuring New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms. Simms was paid a reported $75,000 for his participation. The company later aired three more ads that year with other athletes following major sports championships.

paragraph_text: The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of four IAAF World Athletics Series events in 2012, which includes the World Race Walking Cup, the World Junior Championships and the World Half Marathon Championships.

paragraph_text: Mistinguett (, born Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois; 3 April 1875 – 5 January 1956) was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world.

paragraph_text: Becky Breisch (born March 16, 1983) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw. She has represented the United States in the event at three consecutive World Championships in Athletics from 2005 to 2009. Her personal best throw of 67.37 meters for the discus makes her the second best American of all-time in the event, after Suzy Powell.

paragraph_text: Rank Name Sport Nation Total Salary / Winnings Endorsements Cristiano Ronaldo Football Portugal $93 million $58 million $35 million LeBron James Basketball United States $86.2 million $31.2 million $55 million Lionel Messi Football Argentina $80 million $53 million $27 million Roger Federer Tennis Switzerland $64 million $6 million $58 million 5 Kevin Durant Basketball United States $60.6 million $26.6 million $34 million 6 Andrew Luck American football United States $50 million $47 million $3 million 6 Rory McIlroy Golf Northern Ireland $50 million $16 million $34 million 8 Stephen Curry Basketball United States $47.3 million $12.3 million $35 million 9 James Harden Basketball United States $46.6 million $26.6 million $20 million 10 Lewis Hamilton Auto racing England $46 million $38 million $8 million

paragraph_text: The 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom on 11 October 2009. It was the final event of the International Association of Athletics Federations' 2009 World Athletics Series.

paragraph_text: Caroline Walker (born October 15, 1953) is a former American long-distance runner from Oregon who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the marathon on February 28, 1970 with a time of 3:02:53 at the inaugural Trail's End Marathon in Seaside, Oregon.

paragraph_text: Paraskevi Tsiamita (, , born March 10, 1972) is a former track and field athlete from Greece who competed in long jump and triple jump. In 1998 she improved her personal best in triple jump by approximately one metre, and became world champion in 1999 with a personal best jump of 15.07 metres. This was the national record until 2004, when Hrysopiyi Devetzi jumped 15.32 m at the Olympic Games.

paragraph_text: Aurore Kassambara (born 26 October 1979 in Paris, France) is a French athlete who specialises in the hurdles. Kassambara competed at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

paragraph_text: Josia Thugwane (born 15 April 1971) is a South African athlete, best known for winning the gold medal in the marathon race at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Thugwane, who is of Ndebele heritage, is the first black athlete to earn an Olympic gold for South Africa.

paragraph_text: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM (European Portuguese: [kɾiʃˈtjɐnu ʁoˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Juventus and captains the Portugal national team. Often considered the best player in the world and  widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has a record-tying five Ballon d'Or awards, the most for a European player, and is the first player to win four European Golden Shoes. He has won 29 trophies in his career, including six league titles, five UEFA Champions League's, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League. A prolific goalscorer, Ronaldo holds the records for most official goals scored in the UEFA Champions League (126), the UEFA European Championship (9), as well as those for most assists in the UEFA Champions League (34) and the UEFA European Championship (6). He has scored over 700 senior career goals for club and country.

paragraph_text: Nick E. Hysong (born December 9, 1971 in Winslow, Arizona) is an American athlete competing in the men's pole vault. Best known for winning the Olympic gold medal in 2000 with a personal best jump of 5.90 metres, he also won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. Has excellent speed. He has run 10.27 for 100 meters.

paragraph_text: A Portuguese international, Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all - time by the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015. Ronaldo made his senior international debut in August 2003, at age 18. He is Portugal's most capped player of all - time with over 140 caps, and has participated in seven major tournaments. He is Portugal's all - time top goalscorer. He scored his first international goal at Euro 2004 and helped Portugal reach the final. He took over full captaincy in July 2008, leading Portugal to their first - ever triumph in a major tournament by winning Euro 2016, and received the Silver Boot as the second - highest goalscorer of the tournament. One of the most marketable sportsmen, he was ranked the world's highest - paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017, as well as the world's most famous athlete by ESPN in 2016 and 2017.

paragraph_text: Diana Yankey (in some sources "Dinah"; born 2 February 1967) is a retired Ghanaian athlete who specialized in the 100 metres hurdles. She represented her country at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics. She was twice champion at the African Championships in Athletics and took silver medals at the 1987 All-Africa Games and the 1988 African Championships in Athletics.

paragraph_text: The Athletics' 2002 campaign ranks among the most famous in franchise history. Following the 2001 season, Oakland saw the departure of three key players. Billy Beane, the team's general manager, responded with a series of under - the - radar free agent signings. The new - look Athletics, despite a comparative lack of star power, surprised the baseball world by besting the 2001 team's regular season record. The team is most famous, however, for winning 20 consecutive games between August 13 and September 4, 2002. The Athletics' season was the subject of Michael Lewis' 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (as Lewis was given the opportunity to follow the team around throughout that season). A film adaptation of the book, also titled Moneyball, was released in 2011.

paragraph_text: The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state - sponsored ``full - time amateur athlete ''of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self - financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full - time basis. In 1986, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to allow professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games starting in 1988. The National Hockey League (NHL) was initially reluctant to allow its players to compete because the Olympics are held in the middle of the NHL season, and the league would have to halt play if many of its players participated. Eventually, NHL players were admitted starting in 1998.

paragraph_text: The 13th World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19–25 July 2010. A total of 44 athletics events were contested at the Championships, 22 by male and 22 by female athletes. It was the second time that the event took place in Canada, after the 1988 edition in Sudbury. This became the last event announced by Scott Davis.

paragraph_text: Anastasiya Mokhnyuk (, born 1 January 1991) is a Ukrainian athlete who specialises in the heptathlon. She competed in the heptathlon event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China. She won the silver medal in the pentathlon at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

paragraph_text: Shelia Burrell (born 15 January 1972 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is a retired American heptathlete. She was a two-time representative of the United States at the Summer Olympics, competing in 2000 and 2004. Her best Olympic finish was fourth place. She also competed twice at the World Championships in Athletics, which included a bronze medal in 2001. She was also a two-time silver medalist at the 1999 Pan American Games. Her personal best for the heptathlon 6472 points and she was American national champion on four occasions.

paragraph_text: Denia Caballero Ponce (born 13 January 1990) is a Cuban track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw. She has a personal best of 70.65 metres for the event. She was World Champion in 2015 and the bronze medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She was the Central American and Caribbean champion in 2011 and the 2011 Pan American Games bronze medallist.

Question: What is the profession of the highest paid athlete in the world?
Answer: a Portuguese professional footballer