Patrick Hamilton earlier asked “Is wrong to sexualize the Olympics?” Um. Have you seen the artwork depicting the ancient Greek Olympians? These folks were perhaps the original “Sexy Muthfuckas,” if you ask me. How could you not be if you’re young, athletic, and in peak physical condition? Oh, and by the way, you’re competing in the nude?
Given the above, it’s a safe bet that the Olympics were sexualized from the very beginning -- by the athletes themselves. Again, let’s review. You’ve got athletic young people from all over the world, in peak physical condition, all gathered in one location, it rather the rather close quarters of Olympic Village dormitories. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that quite a lot of them are working up a sweat outside of the Olympic arena, engaging in activities that involve considerable technique and/or endurance, but that aren’t likely to earn them Olympic gold anytime soon. They’re all over the magazine covers. So my wouldn’t they be all over each other?
Since the atheletes are likely objectifying each other, I see nothing wrong with objectifying them. After all, why should they have all the fun?
I joined in the fun, with an “Olympic heat” of my own last time around. So, I might as well dive right in with my picks for 2012 Olympic hotties.
According to OutSports, there are 23 openly gay athletes participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Another site, SBNation.Com says there are 21. So, I’ll start my list with my picks from those lists. Since most of the athletes on those lists are lesbians, I’ll stick to the guys. And of the three on that list, there’s one clear winner. (It’s kind of tossup between equestrians Edward Gal and Carl Hester.)
Michael Phelps, the biggest deal to come out of the the 2008 Beijing Olympics has had his ups and downs, but I can’t help rooting for him. (He made the list last year) He’s a fellow Marylander and a fellow ADDer, after all. And while his performance in this year’s Olympics hasn’t outshone his 2008 record, I gotta give him credit for coming back to reach for one more record, winning his 19th medal to become the most awarded Olympian in history. (Note: Since I wrote this post, Phelps has set a couple more records, but I’ll mention those in another post.) My prediction is that he’ll still going to be a cover boy for a while to come. Just next time don’t take a picture right after waking up from a nap.
Cullen Jones
OK. Forgive me. I have a thing for swimmers. Maybe it’s because they show the most skin. Cullen Jones made the list last year and he’s back again. When he was on the team that one the gold in 2008, he declared “The stigma that black people don’t swim ended today.” Since then, he’s been spending his time making sure that stigma ends and working to reduce African American drowning deaths. I showed Parker Cullen’s picture and told him about Cullen’s gold medal as an way of encouraging Parker to keep trying in his swimming lessons. A year later, Parker inspired me to take swimming lessons. I’m still taking them today, and I’ve gone from not being able to swim a stroke, to swimming back and forth across the pool. (My freestyle is pretty good, my backstroke is passable, but my breast stroke needs lots of work. If Jones is ever up to giving a lesson...) And I’m about to “graduate” to “Adult 3″ after starting out in “Adult 1.”
As for the rest? Honestly, there’s too many of these guys to do them one by one. So to speak. Instead, I came up with this gallery.
The problem is, there are too many of these guys for just one gallery. I’ve been perusing the athlete profiles at the London Olympics homepage, and doing some selective image searches. The result is more than I can include in one post. So I limited this one to ten, including the top four. I’ll include the rest in follow-up posts.
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Patrick Hamilton earlier asked “Is wrong to sexualize the Olympics?” Um. Have you seen the artwork depicting the ancient Greek Olympians? These folks were perhaps the original “Sexy Muthfuckas,” if you ask me. How could you not be if you’re young, athletic, and in peak physical condition? Oh, and by the way, you’re competing in the nude?
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We want to know your opinion on this issue! While arguing about an opinion or idea is encouraged, personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please be respectful of others.
The editorial team will delete a comment that is off-topic, abusive, exceptionally incoherent, includes a slur or is soliciting and/or advertising. Repeated violations of the policy will result in revocation of your user account. Please keep in mind that this is our online home; ill-mannered house guests will be shown the door.