Covering the hot studs at the London Games was a chore because there were so many hotties to choose from. For the Sochi Games, not so much. Not being an expert on all thing sports, for both Olympics I’ve relied upon the kindness of strangers (aka internet lists of the Olympic’s hottest male athletes) and when it comes to the 2014 Olympics, the bar for hotness is pretty low. Granted, being all bundled up in multiple layers of bulky clothing, it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, or the well-built from the truly pudgy. Or the scruffy snowboarder from the I’d do him anyway. Still, you’d think it’d take more than just sporting a pair of testicles to qualify as hot. Not that that’s necessarily a bad requirement. Otherwise Belle Brockhoff would make the list of Hottest Male Sochi Olympians too.

Of course if you want to be considered one of the Winter Games true studs, slipping out of those aforementioned multiple layers of bulky clothing helps. The summer Olympians don’t have to make the extra effort, their uniforms alone show off enough flesh (well, there’s no such thing as ‘enough’ flesh, but ya know what I mean.) Seriously, do you really think Dustin Lance Black would have slipped Tom Daley his phone number if Tom was a bobsledder? So it only seems fitting that my inaugural Sochi Stud of the Day post features an Olympian who managed to overcome his sport’s restrictive uniform by posing in the gold medal body the gods favored him with. Even if he does have a leg up in the studly athletes competition by being a fashion model too.

Italy’s Matteo Guarise will be melting fans’ hearts and minds, not to mention the ice, when he takes to the rink in the pair dancing competition with his partner . . . eh, who cares who she is, it’s not like anyone is even gonna notice she’s there.

The 25-year-old hunk of Italian manhood at its finest is no stranger to world-class competition. Back in 2008 he and his equally nameless partner won the World Championship in pairs roller skating. Yes, roller skating. And you thought synchronized swimming as a sport was silly. Matteo, however, thought the sport limiting. “I would say I did everything I could in roller skating and I was still young and wanted to try something new. The world of roller skating is very nice and cozy, but in many ways it is pretty limited. Figure skating offers more opportunities,” he says.

Having scaled that mountain, two year later Matteo began training in figure skating. In 2012 he and yet another who-cares-who-she-was partner made their international debut at the Bavarian Open where they won the bronze medal. Later that year they competed at the World Championships where they finished 15th. By 2013, they’d improved to a point where they won a bronze medal at Trentino. And a berth at the Games in Sochi. Matteo is not expected to medal in Russia. No problemo. He views this year’s Olympics as a dry run for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang where he intends on being a force to reckon with.

Born in Rimini, Italy, the 6’ tall, 180 lb. hunk of Italian hotness may call skating rinks his home, but his real fame, and a little fortune, came from his entry into the world of fashion modelling where male models are as often shot sans the fashions they are supposed to be selling as they are covered up. “I started when I was doing my last season in roller skating and then continued through the year before starting in figure skating,” says Matteo, adding, “Modeling was fun with all the parties and meeting people, but it’s not my life. I still do it, but I won’t take on a project if there’s a chance it’ll distract me from getting ready for competitions.”

Fortunately, among the campaigns he’s worked on and renown photographers blessed with the opportunity of capturing Matteo’s hotness on film he’s worked with, was Jeremy Kost who specializes in photographing some of the world’ most beautiful male bodies using a Polaroid camera. Kost’s compelling, unstaged Polaroid photographs, influenced by Andy Warhol, are spontaneous works that do not rely on lighting, make-up, or styling. But do often rely on nudity and revealing poses. His shots of Matteo, while not the only nude photos he’s posed for, capture his youthful sexuality and athletic build the best. Their collaboration is an apt metaphor for how Matteo views his chosen sport of pairs skating. “It’s about being a part of a team, between you and your partner, there is always something to give and to receive, together you share good and bad moment,” he says. It’s nice that he’s shared the goods with the rest of the world too.

[‘The XXII Gays of The Winter Olympics’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2014 Sochi Games of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the The XXII Gays of The Winter Olympics graphic below for additional news, stories, and pictures.]