Hot Women of Slightly Obscure Sports

Lately I’ve been spending my Wednesday nights camped out in front of ESPN2 watching the CrossFit Games. How can I describe CrossFit to you? Well, for starters, CrossFit athletes call their gyms “The Box.” And inside The Box, they flip over tractor-trailers with their bare hands and wrestle alligators and who even knows what all. It’s intense. And there were some super-duper hot ladies who competed in the games this year.

Thinking about those sexy athletes – as is my wont – made me think of other sexy athletes, and next thing I know, I’d taken a page out of AfterElton.com’s book and created my own list of Hot Women of Slightly Obscure* Sports!

(*And by “obscure” I mean “sports that are not classic American pastimes like basketball, softball, soccer, and golf.”)

Annie Thorisdottir, CrossFit

Let me tell you something about Iceland’s Annie Thorisdottir, winner of the 2011 CrossFit Games: The whole time she’s doing pull-ups and cleans and rope climbs and sprints and squats, she’s smiling. Just smiling to beat the band like she’s got a secret worth knowing. She grew up doing gymnastics and ballet, and now she can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Louise Hazel, Heptathlon

If you know me at all, you know that there is nothing I find sexier than a lady draped in the flag of Great Britain. So, then, hellllo, Louise Hazel! Hazel won the 2010 Commonwealth Games heptathlon. Hep-the-what-now? Hepthahlon! The track and field event that includes hurdles, high jump, shot put, sprinting, long jump, javelin throw, and – killer of all killers! – the 800 meter run.

Lolo Jones, Hurdles

The first time I saw Lori “Lolo” Jones, she was on the red carpet at the ESPYs and she seriously took my breath away. Lolo is a 60 and 100 meter hurdle girl. She took home gold medals in the 2008 and 2010 World Indoor Championships, and you can expect to see her suiting up for Team USA in London next summer.

Allison Baver, Speed Skating

If you want to see speed skater Allison Baver in her underoos, just Google “Allison Baver.” She took home a bronze medal in Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics, but she’s probably most famous for her ESPN The Magazine photoshoot in which she bared her awesomely muscular buttocks. She’s also been featured in Esquire, GQ, and on my own personal desktop.

Mia St. John, Boxing

She looks so friendly, doesn’t she? That “love the whole world” T-shirt and zillion-watt smile. But don’t be fooled: In the ring, Mia St. John is a force. She has been both the WIBA and WIBF lightweight champ, and when she wasn’t boxing, she was winning national Tae Kwon Do championships. Oh, and also, she has a degree in psychology. So she can help you analyze your emotions while she’s beating you to a pulp.

Mimi Knoop, Skateboarding

Hailing from Cuba, Mimi Knoop is one of the most celebrated female skateboarders in the world. When she’s not racking up the X Games medals, she’s working for her non-profit organization that seeks to initiate girls into the world of skateboarding. She also has a degree in fine arts, which she uses to design skateboards and installations that have been shown around the country.

Leryn Franco, Javelin

Leryn Franco was raised in Paraguay, but the whole world opened up to her when her face appeared on international television during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And what a face it is! Franco has medaled twice in the javelin throw in the South American Championships, but most recently she’s taken to modeling, including an appearance in Sports Illustrated‘s 2008 swimsuit issue.

Gretchen Bleiler, Snowboard

Gretchen Bleiler is a five-time X Games superpipe medal winner. She won her most recent gold medal at the 2010 games. The 2010 Olympics weren’t too kind to her, but she channeled her energy into creative pursuits to recover, first with Oakley and then with K2. Bleiler has been profiled in one gazillon magazines, from People to Women’s Health. Oh, and also FHM. (Again, Google if that’s your kind of thing.)

Jolene Van Vugt, Motocross

Canadian gal Jolene Van Vugt is a serious badass. She’s the first woman to ever backflip a full-sized dirt bike in a competition. Stunts like that are why she holds more than one Guinness World Record, and why Van Vugt is a full-time stunt girl these days. (I chose that particular photo because I really value a woman who is proud of her scars! And casts!)

Sarah Burke, Skiing

Oh, Canada! You do export some gorgeous women! Sarah Burke is another Canuck, and another superpipe competitor. She, too, has scored five X Games medals, the most recent of which was this very year. Every time I see an interview with Burke, she talks about these docile activities she enjoys, like knitting and baking. I guess it can’t be 540-back-flips all the time.

Allyson Felix, Track and Field

I once saw Allyson Felix holding all of her Olympic and World Championship medals at one time – 22 in all! – and I was surprised she wasn’t crushed under the weight of them! One thing I adore about Felix is that she’s a part of “Project Believe,” Team USA’s anti-doping agency that seeks to restore faith in Track & Field. Also, I feel like her smile in real life might actually melt me.

Gina Carano, Mixed Martial Arts

Among her many badass qualities – cage-fighting, anyone? – is the fact that Gina Carano doesn’t mind showing up on a red carpet wearing nothing more than jeans and bra. (If I looked like Carano, I woldn’t put on clothes EVER.) Carano is the face of Mixed Martial Arts. She was meant to return to the ring in February of this year, but an undisclosed medical problem kept her sidelined. She did, however, wow the  fanboys and fangirls at San Diego Comic-Con this summer!

Who are some of your favorite hot women from the realm of slightly obscure sports?