Hottest athlete?

The pantheon of hot women athletes is expansive, excluding lacrosse, golf (except Michelle Wie mmmmm), and the WNBA (college isn't bad, but when those women graduate to the pros...EWWWWWW!!). But many women in this category would not be hot if they didn't play a professional sport. Knowing that a woman could beat the living hell out of me gives her extra bonus points, it's just an inexplicably sexy characteristic. There's something graceful about a chick with potato biceps and thighs like Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuanian World's Strongest Man competitor) that makes me think, "Wow, what a beautiful, strong woman." But the hottest women athletes are the ones who are hot despite being an athlete. My top five are as follows:

5. Michelle Wie (LPGA Tour)- she gets points deducted for making us think she isn't American when she really is.

4. Maria Sharapova (Tennis)- she beats out Anna Kournakova (spelling?) for my tennis nomination because Kournakova's name required me to type it in on the google toolbar. "Sharapova" may look like a hassle, but it's easy when you sound it out.

3. Lindsey Vonn (Olympic Skier)- She receives extra points for getting a gold medal for AMERICA at the 2010 winter Olympics. Lindsey is one of those "big girls." There is something "big" about her. This does not mean that she is fat, or even tall for that matter, she just looks big. But it's hot.

2. Amanda Beard (Olympic Swimmer)- Beard is easily the hottest person at the olympics. One of the reasons I didn't rank her above number one is because of her last name. Reminds me of the fat lady at the freak show. But swimming was the perfect choice for Amanda. She's a keeper (and a gold medalist!).

1. Danica Patrick (Racing)- This wasn't even close. Danica even makes the NASCAR jumper suit look hot. She also gets help from her supporting cast (people that make a girl look better or worse by comparison). Next to all their female counterparts, competitors 2-5 outshine the rest, but not to the extent that Danica does. When you pit Sharapova with Kournakova it's somewhat of a race, but when your best competition is Tony Stewart and Elliot Sadler, you had better put them to shame. And Danica does.