Want an amorous partner? Find someone who loves watching sport

In honour of 2016’s athletic August, dating site EliteSingles decided to investigate whether sport can influence your love-life. After studying data from 11,000 New Zealand singles, they found something interesting: it appears that liking sport (even just on TV) goes hand in hand with a high libido!

  • On average, singles who like sport have far higher libidos than singles who don’t
  • These raised libidos exist whether playing sports – or just watching them!
  • Sporty singles also feel sexier: but are pickier when selecting a partner
  • The sexiest sport of all – according to Kiwis – is either rugby sevens or hockey
  • New Zealand’s sexiest athletes of 2016 are Kerri Gowler and Blair Tuke

Want to get in the mood? Try some sport

People who love sport have a much higher sexual appetite than those who don’t! According to the study, a massive 79% of singles who love exercising also claim to have ‘a strong desire for sex’ whereas just 53% of singles who don’t who don’t exercise can say the same.

What’s really interesting though, is that you don’t necessarily have to be doing the sport yourself to enjoy a high libido. Indeed, 78% of those who love watching sports events on TV also claim a strong desire for sex, compared with just 66% of those who actively don’t like to watch.

Sport lovers are sexy – and picky!

Along with their strident libidos, sport lovers can boast high levels of self-assurance: 68% of those who exercise describe themselves as ‘sexy.’ Meanwhile, just 37% of those who don’t exercise would refer to themselves in the same way.

Once again, this is an area where the sport watchers are keeping pace with the sport doers: 63% of those who love televised sport see themselves as sexy, while just 57% of those who don’t watch would be comfortable using the same term. Evidently, loving sport, whether as participant or fan, is the best way to ensure a fun summer between the sheets…

Of course, there is a catch: this increased self-assurance goes hand-in-hand with increased pickiness about a partner’s looks. Indeed, the more people love sport, the more physical attraction is an important factor in their search for a spouse: 70% of sporty singles and 66% of TV watchers cite physical attractiveness as an important quality in a partner, compared with just 41% of non-exercisers and 60% of TV haters.

And the sexiest sport is….

So, sport lovers are sexy, but which sport is sexiest of them all? For Kiwi singles, it comes down to a tie: in a complementary study, those surveyed revealed that hockey and rugby sevens tie in the sexy stakes.

The sexiest athletes can be found on the water

Despite the fact that the two sexiest sports are played on grass, the sexiest athletes are all about water. Indeed, the survey also asked respondents to pick the sexiest Kiwi athletes of 2016 – and New Zealanders in voted for rower Kerri Gowler and sailor Blair Tuke.

They were joined on the winners’ podium by the two people picked by the survey respondents as the sexiest New Zealand athletes of all time: Sarah Ulmer and Rob Waddell.

For more on this study: including the reveal of the least sexy sport in New Zealand – please see our full report

Press contact: Sophie Watson

EliteSingles Research, PR and Editorial

[email protected]

About the author: The EliteSingles Press Team

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