Turin – It ain’t easy being a sports hunk. Sex sells. But at what price?
Jeremy Bloom looks golden as an Olympic medal contender in skiing. He’s a 100 percent genuine Colorado football hero, with legitimate NFL aspirations. But have you caught a glimpse of the poster available for $9.99 on his website, featuring Bloom stripped to the belly button, looking ripped and oh-so-sexy?
As remarkable an athlete as Bloom is, what sells are those rock-hard abs and penetrating eyes.
So I asked him if it was irritating to be nearly as famous for being a sports hunk as bashing moguls or catching a football.
“It doesn’t bother me. It’s flattering. But I wouldn’t lose sleep if that never came up again,” Bloom said.
Finally, maybe there’s a man who knows how world-class female athletes feel.
Ogling a sex object promotes blindness to the real talent on display, diminishing the sports achievement.
The Winter Olympics are contested on snow and ice, but the Games could not sustain more than 400 hours of television time in the United States without sex appeal.
For as long as leggy female figure skaters in short sequin skirts have sent hearts spinning with double axels, the Olympic torch has been inflamed with passion. I know happily married men who still sigh at the mention of Katarina Witt.
While rugged guys of the U.S. ski team are featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Olympic preview as brave mountaineers, skater Sasha Cohen strikes a supermodel pose sure to cause adolescent boys to drool on the same magazine’s pages.
So what else is new? Softball pitcher Jennie Finch is known as much for being hot as her heater. Tennis player Anna Kournikova has gotten richer from her backside than her backhand.
And when are we going to see Tiger Woods wearing only skin-tight underwear in a pinup calendar? Never, because America would never stop laughing at the finely buffed golfer making money off his body rather than his hard-won reputation as a champion.
Bloom made a name for himself by scoring touchdowns for the Buffaloes, competing in the 2002 Winter Games and fighting the NCAA bureaucracy. All reasons to applaud. But he has helped pay the bills by being hotter than an MTV video.
“Comes along with the territory, with sponsors making it important to do some of those things,” Bloom said. “But, at the end of the day, I’m an athlete, and that’s where my passion is, that’s where I want to work hard, and that’s what is important.”
Nobody begrudges Bloom making a buck through endorsements. My wife wishes I had his body 25 years ago. But looking good with his shirt unbuttoned won’t make Bloom any more appealing to an NFL team in need of a punt returner. Sex sells. Sometimes, at a steep price.
“It can be an opportunity for athletes, and it can be something that reflects negatively on them,” said U.S. moguls skier Toby Dawson, who could win gold and never be as rich or famous as Bloom.
America goes crazy about celebrities. No need to remind Bloom. He has learned there’s no controlling on what bedroom wall your sexy poster will be pinned.
Outsports, an Internet newsletter that serves gay sports fans, named Bloom the most attractive male athlete two years in a row.
Asked by Outsports his feelings about winning a beauty contest, Bloom was quoted as saying: “To be honest, I don’t really feel honored that much. Not because it’s gay men but because I think outside beauty is a shallow thing. It would be an honor to me if I was regarded by people as a man with great character and determination.”
When you think about it, that’s precisely the point many female athletes have been trying to make for years.
At the Olympics, the score remains far from even in the battle of the sexes.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-280-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
