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.

Ola Jordan voted sexiest woman of 'Strictly Come Dancing' 2009

It remains to be seen whether Ola Jordan will win the Strictly Come Dancing crown with her partner Chris Hollins in Saturday night's final, but she has clearly won the hearts of visitors to this blog, with a landslide victory in our 'Sexiest of Strictly' poll. She won nearly half of all votes cast in a packed field. Fellow professional dancer Lilia Kopylova was in a distant second place, with Ali Bastian the highest-ranked celebrity in joint third. Here are the final results -

1 Ola Jordan 49%
2 Lilia Kopylova 15%
3 Ali Bastian 5%
= Flavia Cacace 5%
5 Kristina Rihanoff 3%
= Katya Virshilas 3%
= Martina Hingis 3%
= Laila Rouass 3%
= Erin Boag 3%
= Natalie Lowe 3%

Laura Tobin voted UK's sexiest weathergirl

Our UK weathergirls poll has now closed, with the BBC's Laura Tobin winning a decisive victory over Sky's Irish-born forecaster Lisa Burke. Wendy Hurrell finished in third place. Here are the final standings -

1 Laura Tobin 46%
2 Lisa Burke 26%
3 Wendy Hurrell 11%
4 Lucy Verasamy 7%
5 Gail McGrane 3%
= Carol Kirkwood 3%

Featured : Ola Jordan

Currently leading the way in our Strictly Come Dancing poll is the beautiful Polish professional dancer Ola Jordan. In the current series of Strictly she is partnering TV presenter and former sportsman Chris Hollins, but she has appeared on the show since the fourth series, previously partnering former tennis player and TV presenter Andrew Castle, former Scotland rugby international Kenny Logan, and DJ Spoony. She is married to fellow Strictly professional dancer James Jordan - her maiden name was Grabowska.

In her pre-Strictly days, Ola notched up a number of more conventional achievements as a dancer, including a semi-final place in the amateur worlds.

Ola and James Jordan's official website includes a biography, news section, and most importantly a stunning photo gallery of Ola.

Poll : Sexiest Woman of 'Strictly Come Dancing' 2009

Well, they're subjected to a public vote every week anyway, and the outcome rarely corresponds very closely with their dancing skills, so why not another? This poll covers all female contestants on Strictly this year, so includes both professional dancers and celebrities, but of course excludes presenter Tess Daly as well as controversial judge Alesha Dixon. Here is the full list of contenders -

The Celebrities :

Ali Bastian
Zoe Lucker
Laila Rouass
Jo Wood
Natalie Cassidy
Martina Hingis
Jade Johnson
Lynda Bellingham

The Professional Dancers :

Ola Jordan
Erin Boag
Katya Virshilas
Lilia Kopylova
Kristina Rihanoff
Natalie Lowe
Aliona Vilani
Flavia Cacace

The poll will remain open until November 30th.

Poll : UK weathergirls

Well, it's been a good five months since our last poll closed, and as it's now chilly October, what better than a poll about the women who always shine even when they're forecasting rain? As there are countless weather presenters on countless channels and regional opt-outs, there was no way I could provide an exhaustive list this time, but hopefully I've picked the obvious contenders. Here's who you can choose from -

Laura Tobin
Gail McGrane
Lucy Verasamy
Lisa Burke
Carol Kirkwood
Becky Mantin
Wendy Hurrell

The poll will stay open until November 15th.