What Makes Rio So Hot? Water Polo Olympians

Most of us purchase Olympics tickets as much as a year in advance through a very convoluted lottery process. You register your preferences and within a few weeks, the Olympic ticket reseller here in the U.S. informs you what’s available. That’s just the beginning.

Obviously, I had asked for tickets to the most coveted events – men’s swimming, men’s diving and men’s gymnastics. After all, those are the sexiest sports, right? Just to be sure, I added water polo to the mix just to make sure I got to watch an actual game: I figured no one would want to watch water polo. A bunch of guys splashing around over a ball? It just sounds kind of boring.

As it turns out, I got tickets to men’s gymnastics (which I was delighted to receive) and water polo. Out of luck on swimming and diving. (Sorry Tom Daley, I didn’t get to say hello to you.) The water polo tickets were relatively inexpensive – about $50 – and to be honest, wasn’t that enthused about going, but my friends insisted. And I’m so glad they did. Of the eight events I attended during the games, water polo turned out to be the most fun. It was exciting and exhilarating to watch two teams in their skimpy swimsuits crash into other in attempts to score.

The game itself is actually fairly intense. But for me, I was taken with just how beautiful so many of the competitors were. I was lucky enough to catch the matches between Spain and France, Serbia versus Australia and Brazil pitted against Greece. Put simply: some of the hottest men on the planet. Forget gymnastics and football. At the next Olympics in Tokyo, you can almost guarantee I’d be on front row of every water polo match for a few days. Hurry up, 2020!

Enjoy new highlights of travel photographer Edwin Santiago’s journeys each week.