When it comes to 10m platform diving coverage of the Olympic Games, the Chinese and gay boys get all the press. Undoubtedly they’ll also get all the medals. The leaders are all cute, but none have the pure masculine sex appeal of previous gold medal winner Greg Louganis. If that was part of the criteria used, then Italy’s Francesco Dell’Uomo would be standing on the podium at the London Games.

The Italian 10m champion since 2004, the XXXth Games of the Olympiad will be Francesco’s third appearance at the Olympics. The Italian stud’s best performance was a bronze at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships until he stunned the crowd at this year’s FINA Visa Diving World Cup test event in London in February when he won the gold medal.

The 25-year-old, who began diving at the age of five, has made a major comeback over the last year since suffering from an inflammation of the membrane of the heart caused by a bad landing off the 10m board a year ago in January. Diagnosed with pericarditis he was unable to dive for almost half a year, making his winning finish at the test event all that more remarkable.

There is not a lot of information on the internet about the hottie from Rome, but since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a 10,000 of them.

[‘The XXX Games’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2012 London Olympics of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the XXX Games graphic below for additional news, stories, and pictures.]