Life is so boring when you don’t have a crush! Thankfully, the 2024 Olympics are allowing us to find a new one every day.
Some of the Olympians are winning us over with their athletic prowess, like pommel horse legend Stephen Nedoroscik, who won Team USA’s men’s gymnastics its first medal in 16 years, or Turkish sharpshooter Yusuf Dikeç, whose lax approach to his event went instantly viral. Others have tickled us with their social media presences, like Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen and his long-running love affair with the dining hall’s chocolate muffins.
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But, of course, some Olympians are just plain charming us with their Greek god good looks. Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon showed off his physique on the starting block, while surfers Ramzi Boukhiam and Gabriel Medina have us religiously tuning into the events in Tahiti.
Below, find just a few of our ever-growing list of Olympic crushes.
Nicolò Martinenghi
Everyone’s fallen in love with Thomas Ceccon, but my Olympic heart belongs to another Italian swimmer: Nicolò Martinenghi. Nicolò won gold in the 100m breaststroke – not a small feat when he was competing against the Brit Adam Peaty who’d won in 2016 and 2020. Standing on the podium waiting for his medal, he mussed his bleach-blonde locks in a very adorable way and then afterwards, he stopped to high-five and take a selfie with every single person in the audience holding an Italian flag or simply holding out their hand. You could tell he was so elated to have won and wanted to share that feeling with everyone! – Laia Garcia-Furtado
Henrik Christiansen
Henrik Christiansen has become the Paris Games’s Ilona Maher. The newly minted social media sweetheart has quickly turned many to Team Norway thanks to the swimmer’s proclivity – nay, obsession with the Olympic Village dining hall’s chocolate muffins, aptly earning him the moniker “the muffin man”. Win or lose, the 27-year-old will always hold the title of Internet Boyfriend. – Hannah Jackson
Tom Daley
It is no secret that the entire world is watching the Olympics swimming competition for… other reasons, like for the incredible abs. Tom Daley is my 2024 Olympics obsession; I cannot stop looking at photos of him knitting, or watching his TikTok content. He just completed a Paris 2024 sweater – and in my dreams, he’d design me a matching one. – Christian Allaire
Ian Ho
Hong Kong swimmer Ian Ho doing his best in this interview and representing for struggling Cantonese speakers everywhere – although who could blame anyone for not exactly focusing on the interview! – Lisa Wong Macabasco
Daniele Lavia
I cannot stop thinking about this one gif of Daniele Lavia – if I ever doubted my attraction to men this would set me (not) straight. I saw a tweet that said something about how the writer loved that any time a gay man sees a hot guy they act like that’s the first hot guy they’ve ever seen. Everyday I watch the Olympics and I think about this tweet. That writer deserves a Pulitzer. – Hunter Abrams
Seth Rider
Olympic triathlete Seth Rider dared to go where practically nobody (one of the few exceptions being mayor Anne Hidalgo) dared to go: into the Seine. The swimmer joked about not washing his hands after using the bathroom in order to train for the swim. (Call it microdosing on E coli.) Crush-worthy sense of humour, indeed. – Margaux Anbouba
Yusuf Dikeç
Yusuf Dikeç won our hearts with his no-frills approach to the sharpshooting event. While other contestants were dripped out in their high-tech glasses, the 51-year-old Turkish shooter gained an instant fanbase with his more luddite approach. Dikeç earned the silver medal with one hand in his pocket, and no ear or eye protection. Twitter, predictably, was enthralled.
Stephen Nedoroscik
Pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik clinched the bronze medal for Team USA, breaking the men’s gymnastics 16-year-long podium dry spell. The glasses-wearing gymnast swiftly earned comparisons to Clark Kent, and his adorable love of Rubik’s Cube further endeared him to the public. We love how adoringly Nedoroscik talks about his girlfriend of eight years – further earning him a spot on our Olympic crush list.
Noah Lyles
Team USA’s Noah Lyles had been on our radar since we caught wind of his Olympics-inspired manicure. Then, he won gold in the men’s 100m final, and his megawatt smile radiated across the stadium in Paris.
Gabriel Medina
By now, you’ve probably seen the gravity-defying photo of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina celebrating his record-breaking 9.90 wave at Teahupo’o. But allow us to show you another picture of the athlete, who is just as handsome as he is talented. We wouldn’t mind hangin’ loose with him, if ya know what I mean.
Thomas Ceccon
What would this list be without Thomas Ceccon, the Italian swimmer who looked like he was carved by Michelangelo himself? Lucky for his many, many adoring fans, Ceccon has graced the podium twice during the Paris Games, taking home the gold in the 100m Backstroke and bronze in the men’s 4x100m team relay. Ceccon’s sculpted face and equally chiseled abs have set social media ablaze, and it seems like he’s, rightfully, leaning into it.
Ramzi Boukhiam
Even though the surfing competition in Tahiti is nearly 10,000 miles away from Paris, we can’t help but keep our eyes trained on the Olympians in French Polynesia. We’re especially taken with Moroccan surfer Ramzi Boukhiam. While he may have placed ninth in the competition, he’s number one in our hearts.
Leo Neugebauer
The 24-year-old German Olympian is the world’s leading decathlete, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from focusing on his more… aesthetic gifts. Or, as one X user put it: “A new bombshell has entered the villa.”
