FanHouse AllisonStokke

Generally, I think that women who are professional athletes and who are viewed as "sexy" in the public eye get more attention than other professional athletes. Sometimes, in fact, they get more attention than other women. Which makes the utter lack of female professional athletes on Maxim's Top 100 list both a little surprising, and given who did make the cut, a little appalling, honestly.

The merits (Marissa Miller at number one) and the demerits (Britney Spears at nineteen) have already been discussed, but seriously, where are the athletes here? The only two athletes that I counted, while doing detailed research that involved clicking on lots of photos, who could remotely qualify were Danica Patrick and Stacy Keibler-- a lady of the WWE -- unless you're willing to count Diora Baird because she decided to putt in a bikini.

These two ladies checked in at 91 and 89 overall, respectively. The problem with that? Well, besides the fact that they are the only athletes even remotely involved, there's also the issue of the ranking here. Because the difference between Danica and Jennifer Love Hewitt (20) is reversed and divisible by ten in non-crazy land.

I would also ask, if we're going to roll with early 90's throwbacks, where is Anna Kournikova? Britney and Christina Aguilera can make this list but not the Russian "tennis" "star"?

The geniuses at AOL Sports came up with an idea to hold a hottest athlete in sports tournament. On one side of the draw are the hottest males, and on the other are the hottest females. That's where I come in. I'm going to look into my crystal ball and tell you some of the sleepers, predict the final four and then crown who I think will be the champion. So, without further ado ...

Sleeper Picks

(8) Allison Stokke - An eight-seed for this hottie is an utter joke. With her tan and muscle tone, she'll run through opponents like the 2005 Steelers in the playoffs. Stokke might not enjoy all the publicity she's received, but over a million YouTube views of a high school interview says she'll be tough to beat no matter what.

(10) Candace Parker - She's already tested well on the Would You Do ... scale, making me think she could have some legs in this tourney. Plain and simple, she's super girl-next-door cute, and her ballin' skills make her even hotter (I don't care who she's dating).

(13) Tanith Belbin - Just look to your right and think of all the possibilities. You simply cannot beat that type of flexibility.

(16) Cassie Johnson - She gives you a reason to tune into curling. Need I say more?

Allison Stokke, the high school pole vaulter whose popularity on the internet made her front-page news, finished a disappointing fourth in the girls' pole vault at the California State Track and Field championships Saturday. Here's a video of her performance:

Stokke vaulted just 12 feet, 10 inches -- nine inches less than her career best -- at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

"From a technical standpoint, there were a couple of steps that messed me up," she said. "My legs have been hurting for a while and that also messed up my runs."

The pole vault title was won by Tori Anthony of Castilleja High School in Palo Alto, who set a national high school outdoor record at 14 feet, 1 inch.

Stokke will compete at the Nike Nationals this summer and enroll at Cal in the fall.

Previously at FanHouse:
High School Pole Vaulter an Internet Sensation
Allison Stokke's Wikipedia Entry Keeps Getting Deleted
Gawk at Allison Stokke While You Sip Your Morning Coffee
Allison Stokke Hits the Front Page of the Washington Post

You are Time Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year because 2006 was, according to Time, the year that you controlled the flow of information.

And you have made high school pole vaulter Allison Stokke a notable person. Google has 445,000 results on a search for her name, and after you made her famous, the real media followed suit: She's been featured on the front page of the Washington Post and her hometown newspaper is selling mugs with her picture on it.

So why, given her status, can't you write a Wikipedia entry for Stokke? Wikipedia is supposed to be the world's largest encyclopedia, with a wealth of information available to all, but Stokke is one notable person whose information can't be found there. If Stokke had an entry it would be here, but the entries that have been written about her have been deleted.

Why are Wikipedia users deleting her entry? One person who deleted Stokke's entry gave the laughable explanation of "no evidence of notability (except fringe Internet phenomenon)." Right. The Washington Post is a fringe internet phenomenon. Another person who deleted her entry cited her age, neglecting to mention that Stokke is an adult and there are many Wikipedia entries about people younger than her.

I don't really get how Wikipedia editors decide who's worthy of an entry and who isn't, but there are certainly less famous people than Stokke who have entries. Wikipedia's guidelines say:

In borderline cases, the rule of thumb should be "do no harm". Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a tabloid. It is not our job to be sensationalist, or to be the primary vehicle for the spread of titillating claims about people's lives.

It does no harm and is not titillating to list Stokke, mention who she is and explain why the Washington Post published a front-page article about her. I'm not particularly comfortable with the fact that Allison Stokke is famous, but I'm not particularly comfortable with the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer is famous, either. That doesn't mean I should delete his Wikipedia entry. Face it: This is the world we live in, and if Wikipedia is going to reflect the world we live in, it needs an Allison Stokke page.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

When we last mentioned the saga of high school pole vaulter Allison Stokke, we noted that she was on the front page of the Washington Post because of the popularity of her pictures on the internet.

But if you really love those pictures, you don't have to settle for seeing them in the newspaper. Sports by Brooks notes that the Orange County Register is both reporting on the "unwanted attention" surrounding Stokke and selling pictures of her.

You can go the dignified route and buy your Stokke pictures in framed mahogany for $215, or you can get a picture of her on a mouse pad (which, I guess, eliminates the need to surf the web looking for pictures of her) for $14.95. But the best choice is probably the $16.95 mug. Nothing says class like drinking out of a cup with a high school pole vaulter's picture on it.

Image Credit: Sports by Brooks.

This is the front page of today's Washington Post. The front-page stories are about U.S. policy in Sudan and Iran, the war in Iraq and Memorial Day, crowded public schools and the Secret Service protecting presidential candidates.

And Allison Stokke, a high school pole vaulter who has become an internet sex symbol.

Stokke is great at what she does -- she could be an Olympic gold medalist some day -- but that's not why she's in the Washington Post, and it's definitely not why the story about her is currently the most-viewed article on the Post's web site. Stokke's fame is about her looks, and the story asks whether we can all feel comfortable about adult men gawking at pictures of a high school athlete on the internet.

The blog With Leather made Stokke a star, although her picture was all over the internet before that. Was With Leather editor Matt Ufford wrong to post photos of her? I don't think so. She's 18, and With Leather is all about the intersection of sports and attractive women.

And yet I still feel uncomfortable with Stokke's celebrity status, mostly because she feels uncomfortable with her celebrity status. Stokke just wants to be a high school student and a pole vaulter, and it's a shame that she's now more than that.

Previously at FanHouse:
High School Pole Vaulter an Internet Sensation