Well, after two solid weeks, the 2012 Summer Olympics are starting to wind down, with just a couple more days of action before the closing ceremonies on Sunday. And I don’t know about you, but I always find it a little sad when the Olympics are over. After all, they give us so many interesting things to talk about—amazing plays, world records, epic fails, wardrobe malfunctions, controversial decisions, celebrity gossip—and there’s almost always something good on TV.

On the other hand, the end of the Olympics allows us to look back and take stock of everything we’ve seen. And this means that, today, I can bring you a list of the hottest countries at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Sure, I could have done a list like this at the start of the games, but you really need to observe the athletes in action to get an accurate reading on their attractiveness. And now, after watching as many events as possible and taking copious notes,* I’m ready to submit my report.

So enjoy, and be sure to tell us what you think.

*Full disclosure: I did not take any notes.

Honestly, Italy surprised me. I expected them to do much better in our rankings—not that #11 among 204 countries is bad. Maybe a lot of the country’s most attractive women decide to be models, TV presenters, or Silvio Berlusconi mistresses instead of competitive athletes. Luckily, not all of them made that choice…

Federica also made our list of hottest gold medal-winners, having won gold in the pool in Beijing.

Italy’s beach volleyball team didn’t do so great, but Marta Menegatti definitely looked the part.

Libania was born in Cuba, but she competes for Italy. So she counts.

Argentina is another country I expected to place higher than 10th, just because it seems like all Latin American countries should place higher than 10th. Also, I think I assume all Argentinian women are as hot as Dorismar Noemi Kerchen, which is really unfair. Still, the country’s female contingent at this year’s games was pretty solid…

Carla here makes me wish field hockey wasn’t only on TV every four years.

Gisela Dulko represented her country on the tennis court. She didn’t win anything, of course, but she tried her best.

Luciana Aymar is actually pretty well-known in Argentina, and not just every four years. (The reason for this is obvious.)

Who would have thought Great Britain would be above sultry lady-powerhouses like Argentina and Italy? It’s true, though. And I didn’t give them extra points because they were the host country. They just had a lot of attractive female athletes this year. Here’s the proof…

Beach volleyball is kind of new to the Brits, since they don’t exactly have a tropical climate conducive to beach sports. But with Zara Dampney leading the way, I’m sure it piqued their interest.

There was a ton of hype about Jessica Ennis heading into the game, and this gorgeous superstar delivered the goods (i.e., a gold medal) in the women’s heptathlon. (Admit it: the fact that she won gold makes her seem more attractive, doesn’t it?)

Victoria was another star athlete with lots of hype, what with the gold she won in 2008. And, like Ennis, Pendleton delivered. She won gold in track cycling once again.

It’s not really surprising that Norway cracked the top 10. We all know Scandinavian women are legendary. However, you might consider it mildly surprising that Norway made the list and the much more populous Sweden did not. But what can I say? It was just Norway’s year. Have a look…

Team handball is a strange sport to us North Americans, but they love it in Europe. And thank goodness, because it lets us get acquainted with women like Amanda Kurtovic, who is just absolutely smoking.

Ezinne isn’t your grandfather’s Scandinavian beauty, is she? God bless multiculturalism, I say.

She didn’t medal this year, but this high jumper certainly jumped right into my heart.

The Netherlands is a powerhouse of sexy, and this year they did not disappoint. Have a look at the best Holland has to offer…

You gotta love a girl who likes doing shots, right?

Let me say it again: women’s field hockey needs to be on TV more often than every four years.

No idea how to pronounce her name, but she’s one attractive swimmer.

Coming in at #6 would be quite an achievement for most countries. But for Brazil, this is a bigger upset that the men’s soccer team not making it out of the group stage of the World Cup—because that’s how legendary the women of Brazil have become. Of course, there are certainly some world-class lookers among the Brazilian Olympic contingent this year, but for the most part they’re not commensurate with the country’s vast natural resources. I guess a lot of the sexiest Brazilian women would rather just hang out on the beach in Rio rather than train 7 days a week.

But again, this is all relative to what we expect from Brazil. The three women we present here are still drop-dead gorgeous…

Fabiana here is a pole vaulter. Feel free to insert your own inappropriate joke.

This is the third time in as many weeks Jaqueline Carvalho has appears on one of our lists. And she is very deserving of this attention.

Juliana didn’t qualify for the semifinals in the women’s 3m springboard. But we’ll forgive this hairdresser/Olympic diver.

Russia places pretty much right where I expected. The country is huge, and it’s filled with blonde-haired, blue-eyed women. So they’d almost have to try to not crack the top five…

Irina is one good-looking triathlete.

She may only be the second-hottest Russian tennis player named Maria, but she did win a bronze medal this year.

You didn’t forget about Maria, did you?

Canada at #4? I definitely did not see that one coming. It’s not that Canadian women aren’t beautiful. The country is a melting pot, and anyone who’s ever visited Toronto or Montreal knows the country is chock-full of hotties. It’s just that Canada is relatively small (34 million people), and they love their winter sports. So taking a top five spot in the Summer Olympics is a huge upset.

Not only is Laura Sesselmann gorgeous, but now she’s also an Olympic bronze medalist.

Nikola Girke is a Canadian sailer. I bet you’re sad, now, that you didn’t watch more sailing.

Mountain biker Emily Batty is just ridiculous. She hasn’t competed yet, so maybe a medal is still to come.

Australia in the top 3 is certainly no surprise. I don’t know if it’s the climate or what, but that country/continent just cranks out gorgeous women left and right. In fact, the Australian contingent at the 2012 Summer Games is so strong that I didn’t even include their most famous sexy athlete, Stephanie Rice, in the examples. Didn’t have to. There’s a strong enough case without her.

Pole vaulter Liz Parnov is just 18 years old, so she got to compete in both the IAFF World Junior Championships and the Olympics this year. It’s a shame we couldn’t say the same for another 18-year-old Aussie from the IAFF World Junior Championships—Michelle Jenneke.

Eloise is a synchronized swimmer.

Casey Eastham: another woman helping me make the case that we need more women’s field hockey.

The USA sends the most olympians of any country, so anything lower than #2 or #3 on this list would be a major disappointment. As it is, like Australia, I didn’t even include the most famous athletic hotties in the three examples here, because excluding them helps make my point. (So if you want to see pictures of Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, or Lolo Jones, you’ll have to look here, here, and here.)

This 23-year-old just won bronze in women’s boxing. Seriously, a woman this hot…boxing.

Kara Goucher may be the most gorgeous marathoner in the world today.

Volleyball player Kim Glass is just flat out ridiculous. If you check out TotalProSports on the regular basis, you’re probably already familiar with her.

Croatia? Who knew? I certainly didn’t. Not until I saw the USA women’s basketball team play their opening game against the Croatian team. And then I was like, WTF? What’s in the water over in Croatia?

Anyway, once you have a look at the next three slides, I think you’ll agree that Croatia is very deserving of the top spot as the hottest country at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Here’s another gorgeous handball player.

I had to throw in one brunette, just to prove not all beautiful Croatian women are blonde.

For the love of God, get this woman in the WNBA. I don’t care if she’s terrible.