Sporting Heroes in association with Holland & Barrett (11-15)

With a long hot summer ahead of us, we thought it was the perfect time to celebrate those sporting heroes who have captured our hearts.

Here, in no particular order, we present the the 25 sportsmen who have impressed Attitude with their talents, made an impact on their sport and got us hot under the jock-strap. We’ll be bringing you five of our list each day for five days, so make sure to check back tomorrow (June 29) to see who else has made the cut.

11) Chris Mears

Further proof (if any were needed) that tight Speedos a sporting heroes doth make, 21-year-old Chris competes at the highest level as part of Team GB, but the fact he’s diving at all is something of a miracle following his brush with death in 2009. After suffering a ruptured spleen he was given just a 5% chance of survival and told he would never dive again: But against the odds, he fought back to achieve greatness. What a hero!

12) Gareth Thomas

Gareth Thomas is a former Welsh Union and league player who played internationally for over 15 years and made over 100 test match appearances. He also came out as gay in 2009 – making him the first Rugby Union player to do – before topping the Pink List as the UK’s most influential gay person in 2010.

13) Amir Khan

No stranger to trading blows, the two-time world champion is often considered Britain’s most successful lightweight boxer of all time. Bolton-born Amir become the youngest British Olympic boxing medallist ever when he won silver at Athens 2004 at just 17 years of age.

14) Ben Foden

Our rugby-playing, ab-tastic former cover star Ben Foden isn’t just known for bearing his flesh in the pages of Attitude. The 28-year-old regularly lives out our fantasies scrummaging with burly men (as part of the Northampton Saints and England squads), and making appearances in The Saturdays’ reality shows as the husband of band member Una.

15) Louis Smith

Louis Smith is not only topless Instagram gold, he’s a two-time Olympic gymnast, winning bronze and silver in Beijing and London respectively. Since then he’s waltzed his way to victory on Strictly and is hoping to return to his former glory at the Commonwealth Games this summer.

Make sure you come back tomorrow (June 29), when we’ll be bringing you numbers 16-20 in our list of the 25 greatest sporting heroes, in association with Holland & Barrett.

Click here for Attitude’s 25 Sporting Heroes (Numbers 1-5)
Click here for Attitude’s 25 Sporting Heroes (Numbers 6-10)