Hey friends! Those who usually follow this blog will remeber that not so long time ago we posted an article in Spanish titled “Deporte y belleza (1): las guapas atletas suecas” where we reviewed a real feminine athletic team: the Swedish women’s athletic team. Today we are going to have a look at the most beautiful female athletes from the rest of the world that are ususally considered as beauty icons in the world of athletics. I don’t know why but high jumpers and pole vaulters are the prettiest ones. Let's start with an american high jumper. Her name is Amy Acuff. Amy was born on July the 14th 1975 in Port Arthur, Texas. Amy Acuff has participated in three Olympic Games representing the United States including Athens 2004. Amy Acuff has won 6 American championships so far and she set her personal best in Zurich in 2003 with 2.01 meters. In a competition Amy stands out for her aggressive style over the bar and outside competitive athletics she is trying to pursue a career in modeling. Amy Acuff has posed for several magazines (sometimos half naced) such as Esquire, Maxim’s, FHM and Playboy where she was considered the prettiest woman of the Olympic Games. Here you have Amy Acuff. Don’t you think she is a bit skinny?
Our next guest is another high jumper. She’s from Croatia and her name is Blanca Vlasic. Blanca was born on November the 8th 1983 in the beautiful Croatian city of Split and she’s the current world champion, title that she won recently in Osaka, Japan. She was named after the Moroccan city of Casablanca where her father, Josko Vlasic, was competing in decathlon representing the former Yugoslavia in the Mediterranean Games when Blanca was born in 1983. Although she’s only 24 years old, Blanca has already competed in two Olympic Games in 2000 and 2004. Her performance wasn’t successful at all but it’s understandable as she was only 16 and 20 years old respectively. Her personal best, also Croatian national record, set in August 2007 is 2.07 metres. In October 2007 Blanca was chosen as the best European athlete of the year. Currently she is considered to be the number 1 amongst female high jumpers and she will have her great opportunity in Beijing Olympics 2008. Look at her eyes and perfect body. She doesn’t have an ounce of fat on her.
Let’s change discipline and go over to pole vault. Let’s start with American pole vaulter Stacy Dragila. Stacy Dragila is 36 years old and was born in Auburn, California. Stacy excelled in athletics while at University in the 1990,s and won her first gold medal in Sydney Olympics in 2000. Besides Olympic champion Stacy is also double outdoor world champion (Seville 1999 and Edmonton 2001), indoor world champion (Paris 1997), 16 times US champion and has set a number of world records. Having not been selected to participate in Athens 2004, her next goal is a good performance in the “Trials” that will decide the US team for Beijing 2008. We wish her very good luck. You can see that she’s not a teenager but she’s really fit.
Another pole vaulter. Is there anybody who doesn’t know Yelena Isinbayeva? Yelena Isinbayeva was born in Volgograd (the former Stalingrad),Russia on June the 3rd 1982. Her background can only be compared with her beauty. It’s very difficult to count all the titles and medals won by this flying Russian of 174 centimetres of height and 65 kilograms of weight. Gold medallist in Athens 2004 she’s also double outdoor world champion (Helsinki 2005 and Osaka 2007), double indoor world champion (Budapest 2004 and Moscow 2006) and indoor and outdoor European champion (Gothenburg 2006 and Madrid 2005). She was chosen as the world’s best female athlete by IAAF in 2004 and 2005; she has broken more than 20 world records and was the first woman ever to jump over 5 metres on July the 22nd 2005. If she goes on this way I can’t imagine where she can reach. Maybe she will reach the moon without the need of a space rocket.
Back to pole vault. The following woman is not very popular yet. She’s the German pole vaulter Silke Spiegelburg. I love her bad-girl face. Silke Spiegelburg, 171 centimetres high and 61 kilograms of weight, was born on March the 17th 1986 in Georgsmarienhutte, Germany. What a difficult name to pronounce!! Although she’s only 21 years old she’s a bright young hope of German athletics. She has already been under-18 and under- 20 European and World champion several times and has broken several records in these categories. Silke set her personal best in September 2007 in Stuttgart where she was able to jump 4.60 metres. Silke participated in the last Olympic Games held in Athens where she finished in the 13th position. I think she has a bright future in front of her and not only in the World of athletics. If you don’t believe me please have a look at the following pictures. I like the way she regains strenght eating a banana.
To conclude we’ll change and go over to volleyball. One of the most striking volleyball players in the world is the gorgeous Italian Maurizia Cacciatori. She is one of the best and prettiest players both inside and outside the volleyball court. Maurizia was born on April the 6th 1973 in Carrara, Italia. Now I understand why she has such a strong body. Her body looks as hard as the famous marble from Carrara. Maurizia has played for the Italian national team more than 200 times. Maurizia also played for the Spanish team Tenerife Marichal with which she won the Spanish League in the season 2003-2004. Maurizia often criticized TV cameraman because, according to her, when she was playing they usually focused on her bottom too much. In 2006 Maurizia participated in the Italian version of the reality show the Island of the Famous. To finish with the post I’ll leave you some more pictures of Maurizia and a video where you can see her recording a commercial for an Italian energetic drink. Best regards