[This is part 4 of our ten day most memorable Olympic moments countdown to the 2012 Olympics. The daily non-Olympian athletic gratuitous eye candy is just a bonus.]

Having just covered the mastabatory sport of solo synchronized swimming, I thought rather than jump off on another tangent I’d stick to water sports. Kinda, sorta. The world responded with a collective, “Ouch!” when Greg Louganis gave the 3m board a little head at the Seoul Games. But the response to French gymnast Emilie Le Pennec’s routine on the vault logged in with an, “Ooops!”

A photo of France’s golden girl, published by Getty Images, was a subject of controversy when it leaked. The photo appears to depict Le Pennec having an episode of incontinence in the middle of her vault. Naysayers claim an Olympian peeing in the middle of her performance would be substantiated by additional photos or video footage. Getty Images, on the other hand, has a sterling reputation and it’s doubtful they would publish a fake photo and risk their rep going down the toilet.

Regardless, Le Pennec’s fame has spread across the internet and her infamous photo has routinely wetted the appetite of bloggers posting about the most embarrassing moments of the Olympics. Not being held to the high standards of journalism that FOX News is, or perhaps emulating that network’s level of journalistic integrity, the facts surrounding this incident are ignored in favor of the splash caused by reporting about it. Whether or not Le Pennec actually peed herself is debatable, that it happened during the Olympics is not. The photo that caused all of the ruckus was taken at the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, not the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She did not even compete in Beijing, at those Games she was working as a consultant for French TV Canal+.

Not that Olympians have been completely dry mind you, and one has to wonder what it is about Australia that causes athletes to gush so. At the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney, Belgian weight lifter Ingeborg Marx’s body assumed when she squatted in preparation for her lift it was for a different purpose. Fortunately for Ingeborg, unlike with gymnastics, there are no points awarded for artistic impression and after her accident she nonchalantly wiped her puddle away with her foot. Her efforts earned her a 11th place finish but a measure of fame that will surely last longer than whoever did win the event.

Nerves, excitement, stress on the body, and forgetting to drain your kidneys before the competition can all lead to an accident with embarrassing results. When the eyes of the world are on you, it’s not the time to make your bladder gladder. Unless you are competing in one of the swimming events.

[‘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.]