Let’s be honest: We don’t just watch the Winter Olympics for love of the game. Many of the stars at Sochi also naturally rock great bodies. So much so that when online dating site Plenty of Fish polled its users, 31.2 percent of single women and 49.5 percent of single men admitted that they watched the games because they wanted to see sexy athletes.
Who are the fan favorites? Here are Sochi’s top nine sexiest athletes, plus one bonus, as rated by a Plenty of Fish survey.
Male Athletes
1. Bode Miller, 36: Miller took nearly a quarter of the votes at 22.4 percent. The skier made headlines the other day when he broke down in tears during an interview with NBC after winning the bronze in the men’s Super-G, which just proves that real men cry.
2. Henrik Lundqvist, 31: This Swedish hockey player is also a well-known New York Ranger. The goalie’s fans call him “King Henrik” or even just “The King.” In 2006, he was named one of the World’s 100 Most Beautiful People by People magazine.
3. Charlie White, 26: This American ice dancer has charmed audiences along with his partner, Meryl Davis. The couple stole even more hearts when they won the first-ever U.S. gold in Olympic ice dancing.
4. Bobby Brown, 22: This freestyle American skier is known for his triple corks and triple flips. He’s also an adorable dude-bro who likes to hang out with his friends and record their adventures on YouTube.
5. Shani Davis, 31: Davis is the first black athlete to win a gold medal in an individual sport during the Winter Games. He took home gold at both the 2006 Winter Olympics in the speedskating 1,000-meter event and again at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Female Athletes
1. Lolo Jones, 31: This bobsledder and Summer Olympian is well known for being a virgin, but that hasn’t stopped Plenty of Fish users from voting her as the sexiest female athlete at this year’s games. Athletes like Chuck Berkeley have complained that Jones only got to the Olympics because of her star power, but viewers at home don’t seem to have any complaints.
2. Linn Haug, 23: This Norwegian snowboarder isn’t even at the Olympics, but she was still voted the second sexiest female Olympian. To be fair, Haug did go to the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. She describes herself as retired on her Twitter account.
3. Anna Fenninger, 24: This Austrian skier isn’t just beautiful on the outside. She uses her celebrity status to bring attention to endangered cheetahs. You can’t miss her in her cheetah-print helmet when she’s on the slopes.
4. Anna Sidorova, 23: Sidorova brought sexy back to curling. The Russian athlete took racy lingerie photos with her curling equipment before the Olympics and made headlines on blogs and in newspapers.
5. Tina Maze, 30: Maze is Slovenia’s pride and joy as the country’s most prominent skier. She’s also a pop star and quickly climbing the charts in her homeland. A multitasker? That’s sexy.
Follow Andrea Park on Twitter: @andreapark