Poll : Sexiest Woman of the 2014 OIympic Curling Tournament in Sochi

The 2014 women's Olympic curling tournament gets underway today in Sochi.  The all-Scottish Great Britain team led by Eve Muirhead are the favourites for the gold medal - but who will be crowned as the sexiest woman of the competition, succeeding the 2010 winner Natalie Nicholson? I suspect the contenders may include Eve Muirhead herself, the Russian skip Anna Sidorova, and the Swiss player Carmen Schäfer, who famously posed nude for a photo-shoot a few years ago.

The voting form can be found at the top of the sidebar.  Multi-voting is enabled, so you can vote for as many (or as few) women as you like. You have 50 women to choose from (including alternates), and here is the full list -

Maria Prytz (Sweden)
Christina Bertrup (Sweden)
Maria Wennerström (Sweden)
Margaretha Sigfridsson (Sweden)
Agnes Knochenhauer (Sweden)
Erika Brown (USA)
Debbie McCormick (USA)
Jessica Schultz (USA)
Ann Swisshelm (USA)
Allison Pottinger (USA)
Mirjam Ott (Switzerland)
Carmen Schäfer (Switzerland)
Carmen Küng (Switzerland)
Janine Greiner (Switzerland)
Alina Pätz (Switzerland)
Kim Ji-sun (South Korea)
Lee Seul-bee (South Korea)
Shin Mi-sung (South Korea)
Gim Un-chi (South Korea)
Lee Hyun-jung (South Korea)
Jennifer Jones (Canada)
Kaitlyn Lawes (Canada)
Jill Officer (Canada)
Dawn McEwen (Canada)
Kirsten Wall (Canada)
Anna Sidorova (Russia)
Margarita Fomina (Russia)
Alexandra Saitova (Russia)
Ekaterina Galkina (Russia)
Nkeiruka Ezekh (Russia)
Ayumi Ogasawara (Japan)
Yumie Funayama (Japan)
Kaho Onodera (Japan)
Chinami Yoshida (Japan)
Michiko Tomabechi (Japan)
Eve Muirhead (Great Britain)
Anna Sloan (Great Britain)
Vicki Adams (Great Britain)
Claire Hamilton (Great Britain)
Lauren Gray (Great Britain)
Lene Nielsen (Denmark)
Helle Simonsen (Denmark)
Jeanne Ellegaard (Denmark)
Maria Poulsen (Denmark)
Mette de Neergaard (Denmark)
Wang Bingyu (China)
Liu Yin (China)
Yue Qingshuang (China)
Zhou Yan (China)
Jiang Yilun (China)

Be sure to vote wisely!

Natalie Nicholson voted sexiest woman of the 2010 Olympic curling tournament

Assisted by an apparent coordinated effort by supporters of Celtic football club in Scotland (!), American lead Natalie Nicholson is the surprise runaway winner of our Olympic curling poll. There were many twists and turns during the course of the voting, with Denmark's Madeleine Dupont taking an early lead, while Nicholson failed to secure a single vote in the early days. But once the Nicholson juggernaut got underway, Dupont started to fade quite badly, and her Danish team-mate Camilla Jensen began to look like the best bet to deny Nicholson the crown. Indeed, Jensen did briefly sneak into the lead, but then there was another huge influx of Celtic-fans-for-Nicholson (beats me), at which point the lead became unassailable. Jensen did however secure second place, holding on in spite of a late flurry of votes for Switzerland's Carmen Schäfer - probably a reflection of the fact that Switzerland reached the medal matches and Denmark did not. Scotland's Eve Muirhead (nominally representing Great Britain for the purposes of the Olympics) followed up her third place in last year's World Championships poll by pipping Madeleine Dupont for fourth place.

Hear are the full results. As the number of votes cast was so huge this time round, I've listed the actual number of votes for each woman, rather than percentages -

1 Natalie Nicholson (USA) 188
2 Camilla Jensen (Denmark) 151
3 Carmen Schäfer (Switzerland) 143
4 Eve Muirhead (Great Britain) 97
5 Madeleine Dupont (Denmark) 94
6 Cheryl Bernard (Canada) 37
7 Ludmila Privivkova (Russia) 36
= Melanie Robillard (Germany) 36
9 Nicole Joraanstad (USA) 34
10 Anna le Moine (Sweden) 28
11 Eva Lund (Sweden) 24
12 Anna Sidorova (Russia) 21
13 Janine Greiner (Switzerland) 20
14 Ekaterina Galkina (Russia) 17
15 Debbie McCormick (USA) 16
16 Denise Dupont (Denmark) 15
17 Margarita Fomina (Russia) 14
18 Jackie Lockhart (Great Britain) 12
19 Anna Ohmiya (Japan) 11
= Carmen Küng (Switzerland) 11
21 Stella Heiß (Germany) 10
22 Kajsa Bergström (Sweden) 9
= Angelina Jensen (Denmark) 9
24 Allison Pottinger (USA) 8
= Ane Hansen (Denmark) 8
26 Lorna Vevers (Great Britain) 7
27 Mirjam Ott (Switzerland) 6
= Mari Motohashi (Japan) 6
29 Anette Norberg (Sweden) 4
= Susan O'Connor (Canada) 4
31 Wang Bingyu (China) 3
= Kelly Wood (Great Britain) 3
33 Kotomi Ishizaki (Japan) 2
= Nkeiruka Ezekh (Russia) 2
35 Cathrine Lindahl (Sweden) 1
= Corinna Scholz (Germany) 1
= Mayo Yamaura (Japan) 1
= Moe Meguro (Japan) 1
= Irene Schori (Switzerland) 1
= Tracy Sachtjen (USA) 1

An astonishing 753 sets of votes were cast in total - but as multiple voting was permitted, the number of individual votes cast adds up to far more.

We also ran two other Winter Olympic-themed polls. Here are the results -

Sexiest woman of 2010 Olympic ice dance

1 Tessa Virtue (Canada) 16
2 Sinead Kerr (Great Britain) 13
3 Tanith Belbin (USA) 10
4 Nora Hoffmann (Hungary) 7
= Oksana Domnina (Russia) 7
6 Penny Coomes (Great Britain) 4
7 Isabelle Delobel (France) 2
= Vanessa Crone (Canada) 2
= Anna Cappellini (Italy) 2
= Emily Samuelson (USA) 2
11 Allison Reed (Georgia) 1
= Nathalie Pechalat (France) 1

35 sets of votes were cast in total.

Hottest woman of 2010 Olympic ladies' figure skating event

1 Kiira Korpi (Finland) 10
2 Sonia Lafuente (Spain) 7
3 Sarah Meier (Switzerland) 5
4 Joannie Rochette (Canada) 4
= Laura Lepisto (Finland) 4
6 Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) 3
7 Ksenia Makarova (Russia) 2
= Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) 2
= Isabelle Pieman (Belgium) 2
10 Cynthia Phaneuf (Canada) 1
= Miki Ando (Japan) 1
= Anna Jurkiewicz (Poland) 1
= Kim Yu-Na (South Korea) 1

25 sets of votes were cast in total.

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!