Ladies of the European athletics championship

The 2010 European Athletics Championships wrapped up last weekend. It was fun watching the sports, and in doing so some of the ladies competing caught our eye, too. As I've maintained before, watching athletes who are good at what they do is a form of pornography in itself, so when they're good-looking as well as proficient, it's twice as good.

We'll start with an improbable creature: a good-looking hammer thrower.

For those of you not up on your track and field, hammer throwers are usually gargantuan, barrel-shaped, sexless things. Not Italy's Silvia Salis:

Not only is she cute, but she's not half bad either. She finished seventh in the Euro champs this past weekend, with a result of 68.85m. Her personal record is 71.77m. We're fans!

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To take a purely pornographic line for a moment, I have to admit I do find athletic bodies absolutely beautiful. Based on the past weekend, I might have to admit I have a thing for Eastern European track. Here's the Ukraine's Yelizaveta Bryzhina to kick things off:

She won a silver medal in the 200 meters with a time of 22.44, behind France's Myriam Soumare.

Russia's lovely Mariya Savinova conquered the 800m race:

And her countrywoman, Anna Alminova, competed in the 1500m:

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One of my favorite sports to watch is the pole vault, even though the fantastic Yelena Isinbayeva is taking the year off. Her predecessor as women's record setter, Svetlana Feofanova, predictably took the gold at Barcelona, but Silke Spiegelburg put in a good performance to win the silver medal.

She is the Emma Watson of the pole vault.

Finishing a very respectable third was the young Lisa Ryzih, Russian-born but representing Germany. Those of you who watch the women's pole vault probably remember that Isinbayeva has a habit of talking to her pole. Ryzih does a similar thing. When she was trying to gear up for her last shot at 475, she harangued not only the pole but the crowd and probably the whole world. Her preparation was a sight.

Sadly, she didn't make the 475, but she'd already broken her personal record by clearing 465cm, and took home a bronze medal. Well done! At some point, she apparently also found time to pose for a German magazine:

That's right: when you want Lady Gaga and pole vaulting, you come to this blog.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Czech Republic's Jiřina Ptáčníková, who finished a respectable fifth and looked damn good doing it.

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Now that I mentioned Lisa Ryzih's harangues at the world, it's only fair I also note German high jump bronze medalist Ariane Friedrich, who also psychs herself up quite impressively.

Hey, she's cute, too.

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I've just looked over this blog post, and I like it. However, as lovely as the preceding ladies are, when it comes to combining sporting excellence with being gorgeous, there can be only one.

The beautiful Jessica Ennis is a world champion heptathlete, and she just won the gold medal at Barcelona as well.

I have a huge amount of respect for all multi-event athletes. In my opinion, it's much easier to optimize for a single event than for seven. So the way I see it, what she does is awesome, and she looks great. Therefore, Jessica Ennis is the queen of Barcelona.

Explain to me again why I shouldn't like sports.