Poll : Hottest Woman of the 2010 Olympic Ladies' Figure Skating Competition

As promised, here is the third of our Winter Olympic-related polls. As with the curling and ice dance polls, all of the competitors in the ladies' singles event are included. Here is the full list -

Kiira Korpi (Finland)
Laura Lepisto (Finland)
Cynthia Phaneuf (Canada)
Joannie Rochette (Canada)
Elena Glebova (Estonia)
Julia Sebestyen (Hungary)
Mao Asada (Japan)
Akiko Suzuki (Japan)
Miki Ando (Japan)
Cheltzie Lee (Australia)
Isabelle Pieman (Belgium)
Miriam Ziegler (Austria)
Liu Yan (China)
Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia)
Anastasia Gimazetdinova (Uzbekistan)
Sarah Meier (Switzerland)
Mirai Nagasu (USA)
Rachael Flatt (USA)
Tugba Karademir (Turkey)
Sonia Lafuente (Spain)
Teodora Postic (Slovenia)
Ivana Reitmayerova (Slovakia)
Ksenia Makarova (Russia)
Alena Leonova (Russia)
Anna Jurkiewicz (Poland)
Kwak Min-Jung (South Korea)
Kim Yu-Na (South Korea)
Carolina Kostner (Italy)
Jenna McCorkell (Great Britain)
Sarah Hecken (Germany)

As with the other Winter Olympic polls, you can vote for more than one favourite if you wish. Oh, and in case you're wondering, you can find the voting form by scrolling down the page!

Curling poll update (Monday afternoon) : Midway through the voting, an incredible 465 sets of votes have been cast - that's already about two-and-a-half times as many as we had for last year's world championship poll. Having not received a single vote in the early stages, American lead player Natalie Nicholson has stormed into first place, although she still has Danish counterpart Camilla Jensen on her tail. Early leader Madeleine Dupont is now trailing somewhat in third place, and is in danger of being overtaken by British skip Eve Muirhead (who finished third in last year's world championship poll). Switzerland's Carmen Schäfer (second last year) is in fifth place.

Poll : Sexiest Woman of 2010 Olympic Ice Dance Competition

As a complement to our curling poll, here is the first of a couple more Winter Olympic-themed polls. The ice dance competition gets underway tomorrow, and you can vote for any of the twenty-three female competitors. To find the voting form, scroll down to below the curling poll. Here is the full list of contenders -

Sinead Kerr (Great Britain)
Penny Coomes (Great Britain)
Nathalie Pechalat (France)
Isabelle Delobel (France)
Oksana Domnina (Russia)
Jana Khokhlova (Russia)
Ekaterina Bobrova (Russia)
Cathy Reed (Japan)
Tessa Virtue (Canada)
Vanessa Crone (Canada)
Huang Xintong (China)
Anna Zadorozhniuk (Ukraine)
Federica Faiella (Italy)
Anna Cappellini (Italy)
Nora Hoffmann (Hungary)
Christina Beier (Germany)
Allison Reed (Georgia)
Meryl Davis (USA)
Emily Samuelson (USA)
Tanith Belbin (USA)
Alexandra Zaretsky (Israel)
Irina Shtork (Estonia)
Kamila Hájková (Czech Republic)

As with the curling poll, you can vote for more than one favourite. Vote wisely!

Curling poll update (early Thursday morning) : In the early stages of voting, Danish team-mates Camilla Jensen and Madeleine Dupont hold a joint lead with twenty-nine votes apiece, with Switzerland's Carmen Schaefer in third with twenty votes. Doubtlessly all three have been assisted by their nude appearances in Ana Arce's series of curling calendars!

Poll : Sexiest Woman of the 2010 Olympic Curling Tournament

The Winter Olympics get underway today in Vancouver, but one gold medal will be decided right here over the coming two weeks. Last year an extraordinary 183 votes were cast in our poll that crowned Jennifer Jones of Canada as the sexiest woman of the world curling championships. So who will be her (kind of) successor in the Olympic curling tournament? This time, it really is down to you, because after all the complaints about my rather subjective shortlist last year (interestingly many of the comments related to the exclusion of Nicole Joraanstad!) I’ve decided to include every single competitor on this occasion, including alternates. I’m relying on Wikipedia for accuracy – could be risky! Here is the full list of contenders –

Madeleine Dupont (Denmark)
Denise Dupont (Denmark)
Angelina Jensen (Denmark)
Camilla Jensen (Denmark)
Ane Hansen (Denmark)
Eve Muirhead (Great Britain)
Jackie Lockhart (Great Britain)
Kelly Wood (Great Britain)
Lorna Vevers (Great Britain)
Anne Laird (Great Britain)
Cheryl Bernard (Canada)
Susan O'Connor (Canada)
Carolyn Darbyshire (Canada)
Cori Bartel (Canada)
Kristie Moore (Canada)
Debbie McCormick (USA)
Allison Pottinger (USA)
Nicole Joraanstad (USA)
Natalie Nicholson (USA)
Tracy Sachtjen (USA)
Mirjam Ott (Switzerland)
Carmen Schäfer (Switzerland)
Carmen Küng (Switzerland)
Janine Greiner (Switzerland)
Irene Schori (Switzerland)
Moe Meguro (Japan)
Anna Ohmiya (Japan)
Mari Motohashi (Japan)
Kotomi Ishizaki (Japan)
Mayo Yamaura (Japan)
Andrea Schöpp (Germany)
Monika Wagner (Germany)
Melanie Robillard (Germany)
Stella Heiß (Germany)
Corinna Scholz (Germany)
Wang Bingyu (China)
Liu Yin (China)
Yue Qingshuang (China)
Zhou Yan (China)
Liu Jinli (China)
Ludmila Privivkova (Russia)
Anna Sidorova (Russia)
Nkeiruka Ezekh (Russia)
Ekaterina Galkina (Russia)
Margarita Fomina (Russia)
Anette Norberg (Sweden)
Eva Lund (Sweden)
Cathrine Lindahl (Sweden)
Anna le Moine (Sweden)
Kajsa Bergström (Sweden)


As ever, the women who have appeared nude in Ana Arce’s now-legendary curling calendars will be among the hot favourites for the crown. They include the aforementioned Nicole Joraanstad, Madeleine Dupont, Debbie McCormick and Camilla Jensen. Also in with a strong chance must be Carmen Schäfer and Eve Muirhead, who finished second and third respectively in last year’s poll.

To take account of the vastly expanded field this year, the rules have changed and you can vote for more than one favourite. So get voting!

Featured : Kuunkuiskaajat

Kuunkuiskaajat are a female folk music duo, who have been selected to represent Finland in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. The women concerned are Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen, who also form part of the folk music group Värttinä. The name Kuunkuiskaajat translates into English as Moon Whispers, and the victory of their song Työlki ellää in the Finnish national selection is thought to owe a lot to the success of Estonia's superb 'ethnic' entry to Eurovision last year.

Kuunkuiskaajat's official website, containing photo galleries, can be found here.