1 Tatiana Grigorieva You might not be entirely familiar with the smouldering good looks of this Australian pole-vaulter, because in most pictures she is throwing herself backwards over a five-metre bar. A woman is never seen at her best when throwing herself backwards over a five-metre bar, although Tatiana does it to great effect, winning a Commonwealth Games gold and silver at the Sydney Olympics. She wins gold here for her supermodel good looks, cheekbones that could sharpen a chisel, and a look of steely determination that can weaken a chap’s knees from 50 paces. Her husband, Viktor Chistiakov, is also a pole-vaulter. So tell me, Tatiana, when you both just flop into bed together after a busy day, who has the longer run-up?
2 Katarina Witt
The German ice-skater won two Olympic golds before deciding to — sorry about this — carve out a new career for herself as an actress and model. She once posed for Playboy (would they have asked Jayne Torvill to do the same?) and might even have been our No1 had it not been for her dress sense. Still, what do you expect from somebody who learnt about clothes and fashion in the former East Germany and was forced to spend her formative years dressed in the short, sequined skirt couture of the ice-skating world?
3 Suzy Favor-Hamilton, US middle-distance runner
There was a time when women athletes would spurn the lighter side of life. They concentrated instead on training, the pursuit of medals, and — if they were British — the hope of being invited to appear on A Question Of Sport. Nobody could accuse Favor-Hamilton of not taking her sport seriously: she is currently the best 1500m runner in the world, although she missed the recent world championships through injury. But she also takes advantage of her athletic good looks: blonde hair, hazel eyes and a smile the size of Wisconsin. How many other middle-distance runners have their own swimsuit calendar?
4 Gabriela Sabatini
Without doubt the tastiest thing to emerge from Argentina since Fray Bentos, Gabriela brought a touch of Latin glamour to the tennis circuit. She was not just sultry, either, but saintly as well. To celebrate her 18th birthday, she invited a group of poor children to her house and cooked them a meal. Little wonder the traffic used to stop when she was out on the streets of Buenos Aires. Oh yes, and she could play a bit, too. She is still sadly missed, having retired at her peak. One little warning, though: she is thought to be planning a singing career
5 Merlene Ottey
The sprinting man’s crumpet. Elegant, graceful and apparently ageless. Ottey won her last Olympic gold medal at the age of 40, running for the Jamaican relay team at Sydney and looking as good as she ever did. She wears her success lightly, and nobody seems to have a bad word to say about her. Flint-hearted sports commentators have been known to go weak at the knees as she crosses the finishing line
6 Steffi Graf’s legs
The extensive market research undertaken to compile this list has revealed that there is a Pavlovian male response to the words ‘How about Steffi Graf, then?’ The eyes of interviewees glaze over for a moment, and then they say, slowly and ever so thoughtfully: ‘Ah yes, those legs.’ The rest of Steffi is pretty acceptable, too, as husband Andre Agassi will happily confirm, especially now that she has abandoned some of the unwise hairdos of her youth. One of the lucky women who gets better-looking as she grows older
7 Carin Koch
There is nothing quite like a Pringle sweater and loud check trousers to dull the edge of desire. But let’s make an exception for the delightful Swedish golfer Carin Koch. In a Playboy poll to find the world’s sexiest golfer, she easily came top (although, to be fair, the competition can’t be all that stiff: it’s a bit like trying to find the most working-class polo player). She has those clean, well-scrubbed good looks that Sweden seems to specialise in, although if you meet her on the greens, be careful what you say to her caddy: more often than not, it’s her husband, Stefan
8 Gregory’s Girl
Not only beautiful, but she likes football. She couldn’t be any more perfect if she turned into a Cornish pasty at half- time. In the 1980 film, Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) falls in love with Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), the girl who replaced him as the school team’s star striker. She is not interested, but in a way that every teenage boy will recognise. She is unrequited love (and unrequited everything else), and we all know what a powerful emotion that can be
9 Martina Navratilova
The thought that Martina might be one of the world’s sexiest sportswomen will probably raise eyebrows to limits previously only tested by Roger Moore under laboratory conditions. Especially as Anna Kournikova doesn’t make the list. But Martina has mischievous eyes, and an alluring sense of fun that was clear for all to see again during this year’s mixed doubles at Wimbledon, when she appeared to be flirting on court with her partner, India’s Leander Paes. She also has a lithe, athletic figure, if you like that sort of thing. And there is, of course, the added advantage, chaps, that if you’re not entirely sure if she’s for you, she is absolutely positive that you’re not for her
10 Karren Brady
Yes, yes, we know she’s not a proper sportswoman, but she’s certainly the real-life version of Gregory’s Girl (attractive, likes football, see No 8). She is great-looking in a saucy sort of way and obviously fun to be with, but best of all, she could probably get you into matches free, because she runs Birmingham City. Runs it very well, too, having carved out an individual style. One of the first things she did on arriving at Birmingham was posing provocatively in the team’s kit. What other football boss could do that and look so alluring in shorts? Not Ken Bates, that’s for sure
So why not . . . Anna Kournikova?
There is a certain sort of dribbling, middle-aged man who probably has the tennis circuit’s favourite pin-up as his computer screensaver, but the Russian doesn’t do that much for the rest of us. Why not? Well, there are rumours that Ken only got together with Barbie after going out with Anna and finding her too artificial. She certainly looks the part, and is the sort of girl who has eyes for only one person. Unfortunately, she is that person. She is the sort of high-maintenance woman who wakes you at three in the morning just so you can remind her that she’s wonderful
