Based on 1075 Malaysians surveyed by the British market research firm, Ronaldo commanded 5% of the public sentiments, while Lee, who recently called time on his badminton career, edged ahead of the Portuguese with 6%.
The three-time Olympic silver medalist was joint-fourth alongside Alibaba Group executive chairman Jack Ma and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Leading the list was Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, with an overwhelming 16%, followed by Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie Sheikh Mustapha (9%), who was the first Malaysian astronaut, and Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan (7%).
Former US President Barack Obama, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan completed the top 10 list.
Outside the top 10, other sporstmen on Malaysians' minds were Barcelona maestro Lionel Messi (2%) and former Pakistan cricket captain and current Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan (0.5%).
In the women's category, no sportswomen made the top 10 list, which saw Siti Nurhaliza (20%), Siti Hasmah Ali (8%) and Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (7%) occupy the top three spots.
