The Olympic hotties that struck gold!

Avant-Garde was fortunate enough to have its very own official Olympic correspondent during the games. Fanciful Dandy was jammy enough to wangle himself some tickets and I, in a bid to avoid the Olympic commuting crush, decided to bugger off for a few weeks.

Still I got to see some of the coverage whilst abroad and considering all the criticisms and appraisals pitched before, during and after the games I can only concur with Dandy’s assessment that overall it was a success - even if I watched from a distance. Indeed when we have such gorgeous athletes giving it their all well surely we’re all winners - just see the American volleyball team above.

 So for your perusal Avant-Garde has produced a list of just some of the golden stars that not only showed off their athletic prowess to the world but who looked damn good doing it too. Ladies on your marks…

Victoria Pendleton

Gaining two medals for Britain this year in cycling events; gold in the women’s Keirin and silver in the sprint finals, the 31 year old has become a bit of a celebrity and subsequently dubbed one of the ‘pin up girls’ of the Olympic Games. With shots like this I think we can all see why.

Elisa Di Francisca

Probably able to skewer you as soon as look at you Elisa was the feisty fencing Italian who achieved two gold medals at the Olympics both in the individual and team foil events.

Zi He

Representing the people’s republic of China in diving events Zi He won gold in the 3m synchronised springboard and silver in the individual event.

It was only a matter of time before we came to volleyball. Girls in bikinis - a bit obvious? Perhaps, but enjoyable none the less and with an estimated 65% of the ticket applications apparently made by men.  

Jaqueline Carvalho – Brazil, gold in women’s volleyball. The video says it all really.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings – America, volleyball doubles. Winning gold in Beijing and Athens the pair struck gold for the third and final time in London.

 Ellen Hoog

The women’s field hockey team for the Netherlands were all rather enjoyable to watch this year but none more so than their forward player Ellen Hoog.

Hope Solo

The last line of defence for the American football team, Hope’s goal keeping skills helped the team all the way to victory at the finals where the US beat Japan 2-1.

Evgenia Kanaeva

Though there’s a joke in there about an attractive gymnast and flexibility, Evgenia from Russia gained the gold medal for Rhythmic Gymnastics as the All-around individual and watching some of the amazing stuff she’s able to do it’s easy to see why she’s considered as the greatest of all time.

Anastasia Davydova

Participating in and winning the synchronised swimming team final for Russia, Anastasia managed to achieve her aim to win a fifth gold Olympic medal at London this year.

And that was only a small snippet of all the athletes that took part, 2016 can’t come around fast enough…

Angelic Rogue