Some people watch the Olympics for the events. Others watch for the hot athletes.
This is nothing new. Going all the way back to the first century, the orator Dio Chrysostom praised the “beauty” of the boxer Melankomas, who competed in the ancient Greek athletic games.
That same feeling resonates in 2024. A number of participants in the Paris Summer Olympics have distinguished themselves for more than just their athletic talent. In one extreme case, a pole-vaulter gained a great deal of attention — some might say notoriety — for failing in a unique way.
It has been enough for a TikTok user named Krystal D’Anjou to call them the “Zaddy Olympics” as she commented on her favorite athletes (with an emphasis on the aesthetics of it all).
There are numerous options for people to choose from, but here are nine of the sexiest moments of the games so far.
After Italy won bronze in the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay on July 27, the Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon, 23, raised his arms in celebration. In doing so, he unintentionally bared his well-cut abs, which had many thirsting on the internet.
(Ceccon, who won gold in the 100-meter backstroke, was later found sleeping on the ground next to a bench in Olympic Village after he had complained about the conditions at the village.)
Triple Play
For the first time in Olympic gymnastics history, three Black athletes shared a podium, with Rebeca Andrade of Brazil earning gold in the women’s floor exercise final, Simone Biles receiving silver and Jordan Chiles taking bronze. At one point, while they were on the podium, Biles and Chiles, both of the United States, bowed down to Andrade.
The Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina, 30, was the subject of one of the most eye-catching photographs at this Olympics. In it, he defies gravity as he floats in the air and poses with one finger pointed toward the sky, his surfboard parallel to him, seemingly mimicking his stance. Aside from being the subject of a stunning photo, Medina took bronze at the surfing competition, which was held in Tahiti — 9,800 miles from Paris.
Rumors of Romance
Devin Booker, an N.B.A. star and a player for the U.S.A. men’s basketball team, shared a video on Instagram of the footage he captured from the stands at the women’s individual all-around final in gymnastics. He recorded routines on a camcorder like a proud parent, cheering on Sunisa Lee, Biles and Andrade, with his teammates, including Steph Curry, sitting next to him. During Lee’s floor routine, he chanted “Vamos, vamos!”
Then Booker posted a photo on Instagram of himself with Lee, which quickly drew attention. Though it might have just been a sweet pic of two athletes posing together, many were swooning over how good they looked together. Her body is tilted in his direction, and there’s a massive height difference — she’s 5 feet and he’s 6-foot-6.
When Noah Lyles, 27, won gold in the men’s 100-meter, he did so wearing a diamond-covered chain-link necklace, pearls in his hair and nails that featured stars, a cross and a lightning bolt in red, white and blue. After claiming the title of the world’s fastest man by fractions of a second, Lyles, who is known for performing well under pressure, exclaimed to a camera, “I told you America, I got this.” (Later, he inspired some debate by winning bronze in the 200-meter after he had been diagnosed with Covid.)
Two days later, another stylish American runner, Gabby Thomas, 27, won gold in the women’s 200-meter — proving she can do it all. Back home, she graduated from Harvard with a degree in neurobiology and earned a master’s degree from the University of Texas in public health with a concentration on epidemiology. Her day job is volunteering at a health care clinic.
The Sharpshooters
Many people on social media reimagined the pistol shooters at the Olympics as characters from action movies.
There was the Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec, who nonchalantly competed with both eyes open, no special equipment (i.e., ear protector, specialized lens, eye cover) and one hand in his pocket. Dikec, 51, took silver in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event, his country’s first medal in shooting. When he found out about his internet stardom, Dikec told the Turkish media, “I did not need special equipment. I’m a natural, a natural shooter.”
Casual.
And then there was the Korean shooter Choe Dae-han. In a photo that spread quickly online, Dae-han is seen wearing a cyberpunk leather jacket and shooting with a deep arched back.
The Legend and the Future
After winning his fourth gold medal at his first Olympic Games, the French swimmer Léon Marchand, 22, held up four fingers at the end of the 200-meter individual medley race. When asked how he was feeling after becoming the fourth swimmer to win four golds at the same Olympics, Marchand said, “I was more relaxed than usual, because I won three gold medals before.” Light work.
And during Marchand’s moment of triumph, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all, was in the stands, contorting his face and cheering along as Marchand beat his Olympic record in the 200-meter individual medley. Adding to the spectacle, Phelps had his hair in a tightly packed bun that drew plenty of opinions online.
An Act of Kindness
After a dominant 4-0 win over the U.S. men’s soccer team, Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, 25, consoled the American soccer player, Kevin Paredes, 21. Hakimi, a defender for Paris St.-Germain, knelt down to comfort Paredes, who was crying. Hakimi lifted him up, put his arm around his neck and walked down the soccer field with him. Morocco went on to beat Egypt on Thursday, earning the bronze medal.
