Athletes With Absolutely Gorgeous Husbands

When it comes to dating, many athletes find love with other athletes. After all, few can relate to what it's like to compete at the highest level. For example, Lauren Holiday, former women's soccer star for the United States, connected with NBA star Jrue Holiday. The two started dating after college, got married, and had a kid together, as she wrote for The Players' Tribune. In fact, there are many hunks to choose from in the world of sports. In 2015, People named British soccer star David Beckham as its "Sexiest Man Alive." Though he is married to former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and is clearly handsome, David said he was still surprised by the honor. "I never feel that I'm an attractive, sexy person," he said in contrast to what many of his fans think. Plus, who can forget Pita Taufatofua, a three-time Olympian who showed off his oiled and shirtless torso as the flag bearer for his native Tonga at the 2016, 2018, and 2021 Olympic games, per The New York Times. 

There are many gorgeous ladies in competition too, like tennis player Anna Kournikova, who ESPN named its number one sexiest athlete alongside Derek Jeter. Kournikova didn't fall in love with another athlete but instead with handsome singer Enrique Iglesias on the set of his "Escape" music video. The two had three children together as of 2022, but the couple never officially married, per Us Weekly. These are the athletes that landed gorgeous husbands, whether fellow athletes or not.

Mia Hamm is an icon for US Women's soccer. Clearly gifted at the sport, she was only 15 years old when she joined the national squad, and she was a part of the American team, which won the 1991 World Cup. Seemingly getting better with age, Hamm participated in her first Olympics at the 1996 games held in Atlanta, Georgia. She and her team won a gold medal that year, a silver at the 2000 Olympics, then back on top to win gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Around the same time frame, Nomar Garciaparra electrified MLB fans as a standout infielder who played the first half of his career for the Boston Red Sox. In 1998, both athletes fortuitously connected at Harvard University, not for academics but rather for a promotional event. Fans joined to watch both Garciaparra and Hamm shoot soccer penalty kicks, and naturally, Hamm scored more than the baseball player. The two exchanged phone numbers at the event, but both went their separate ways. Almost a year later, Hamm then called Garciaparra when she was struggling with her soccer performance. By the end of 2002, Garciaparra proposed to Hamm, and the two married, Sports Illustrated recapped.

The star couple went on to have two fraternal twins but stayed serious about their fitness. "We leave the kids with a sitter, and we work out. It's something we can do together. That's the time for the two of us, she told People.

When Serena Williams announced her retirement from tennis, she left the game as arguably the greatest women's player ever in the sport. Part of the reason was to focus on family, even though she had impressively balanced motherhood with tennis before. "A lot of people don't realize that I was two months pregnant when I won the Australian Open in 2017," Williams told Vogue. "But I'm turning 41 this month, and something's got to give," Williams added. She gave birth to daughter Olympia and wanted to spend more time with the child. "I'm also an incredibly hands-on mother. My husband will tell you I am too hands-on," she explained. Her husband is Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit. 

While in Rome to play in the 2015 Italian open, Williams went to her hotel breakfast one morning only to be mildly annoyed by Ohanian. "This big guy comes, and he just plops down at the table next to us, and I'm like, 'Huh! All these tables, and he's sitting here,'" Serena recalled to Vanity Fair. The first words to her future husband were, "We just don't want you sitting there. We're going to use that table." Meanwhile, Ohanian barely recognized the star because, as he admitted, "I really had no respect for tennis." Their connection started to blossom after Williams invited her tall and handsome tech star to Paris to watch her participate in the French Open. She won the tournament and the heart of Ohanian.

Defenses fear when USA soccer star Alex Morgan gets the ball. During the 2011 Women's World Cup, Morgan debuted in impressive style, scoring against France in the semi-final and Germany in the final. She went on to win an Olympic gold and two world cups, in addition to appearing in an impressive 200 international matches as of 2022, per Forbes. While most soccer players saw Morgan as competition, one saw her as a lifetime companion. Servando Carrasco, a professional soccer player in MLS, met Morgan at the University of California, Berkeley. "I've known Alex since I was 18. We both played soccer at Cal and started dating freshman year," Carrasco told The Athletic. According to the soccer star, he was immediately impressed with Morgan's lightning-quick moves on the pitch, even while she was injured. "Her speed on the soccer field is the first thing that caught my attention, along with the massive knee brace she was wearing because she just had surgery on her ACL like six months before that," Carrasco recalled. 

The two stayed together ever since their first year at school together, and at the end of 2014, Carrasco and Morgan tied the knot. "We are both so happy, grateful, and excited to start our lives together as Mr. and Mrs. Carrasco," Morgan told People about their wedding in Santa Barbara, California. "I truly married my best friend," she added about Carrasco. The two welcomed their daughter in 2020, People reported.

Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki was always close to the top, coming in second place twice at the US Open. Finally, in 2018, she won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, becoming the first player from Denmark ever to win a Grand Slam. This also put her at the top of the tennis world with a number one ranking, the BBC reported. While her hard work created a steady drive towards this peak in her career, Wozniacki's love life was more erratic. Her first high-profile relationship was with professional golfer Rory McIlroy. She shared the exciting news on New Year's Eve in 2013, showing off an engagement ring. The tennis player posted on Twitter, "Rory and I started 2014 with a bang! ... I said YES!!" In preparation for the wedding, McIlroy backed out and wanted to break up. "I was shocked. I thought at least it would be face-to-face or something, but there was nothing. It was a phone call, and I didn't hear from him again," Wozniacki revealed about her ex on "In depth with Graham Bensinger," per The Guardian. 

Her next guy was significantly taller as she linked up with David Lee, a former NBA player. This time, the wedding went as planned, with a gorgeous ceremony in Tuscany, Italy featuring her friend Serena Williams as one of her bridesmaids. Vogue called Wozniacki and Lee the most romantic couple in sports.

In her prime, Allyson Felix was one of the fastest people in the world. She participated in her first Olympic games at the 2004 event in Greece, and by the end of her career, she was the only female track athlete to win seven gold medals at the Olympics. In 2022, Felix ran her last race for a USA relay team. Her husband Kenneth Ferguson and their daughter Camryn were in attendance, as seen on NBC Sports. Ferguson, a fellow sprinter, was the only one who could keep up with her on the track and off the track romantically.

The two began dating in the early aughts, as seen in an adorable Instagram post where Felix shared a throwback photo from 2004 of the couple. "From young love to tons of unforgettable moments over the years ... I love growing with you! Happy Birthday to my best friend and partner," Felix captioned. He also helped Felix navigate a difficult experience with pregnancy. First, she had an emergency C-section with her daughter as a result of pre-eclampsia. The condition was life-threatening to the mother and daughter, but fortunately, both stayed healthy. As if this ordeal wasn't enough, Nike wanted to reduce Felix's sponsorship by 70 percent because she couldn't perform at her pre-pregnancy levels. The sprinter bravely wrote an article in The New York Times, which helped Nike modify its maternity policy. As of 2020, Felix, Ferguson, and Camryn were all doing well, per People.

On the soccer pitch, Robbie Rogers was one of the best competitors in America. As a star first for the Columbus Crew MLS team, Rogers began to attract international attention. In 2012, he signed with the British team Leeds United. "As soon as the work permit is complete, he will be an immediate part of our plans and have an opportunity with the first team," Leeds United manager Simon Grayson told the BBC. Unfortunately, Rogers dealt with multiple injuries during his time in England, including a head collision, the BBC reported. After sitting out for many games with an ankle injury, Leeds United dropped Rogers, and he began playing with the LA Galaxy MLS team. In between the two teams, Rogers announced he was retiring from soccer and also revealed that he was gay. "I was just fearful. I was very fearful of how my teammates were going to react," he told The Guardian. Rogers added about his personal announcement, "even though I'd still be the same person, would it change the way they acted towards me — when we were in the dressing room or the bus?" 

Rogers felt encouraged to continue playing and thanked his "teammates for accepting [him] from the first day [he] stepped back into the locker room." Back in Los Angeles, Rogers married TV producer Greg Berlanti, famous for shows like "Dawson's Creek" and "You." The couple has two children together, Caleb and Mia, Just Jared reported.

Following in the waves created by Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin was a sensation at her Olympic debut in 2012 at the London summer games. Only a teen at the time, Franklin won four gold medals that year and five in total. The only person to earn more medals than her that year was Phelps, with six. She had a somewhat disappointing return at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Though she only walked away with one gold model, Franklin admitted there was more to focus on than only swimming. "This is just one phase of my life that I worked so hard for and made so many sacrifices for," she said. In 2018, she posted on Instagram that she and her boyfriend, Hayes Johnson, also a swimmer, were moving into a new home together. Less than two months later, Johnson proposed to Franklin. The couple shared their engagement announcement through Instagram with a photo of Franklin down on one knee. By the end of the year, Franklin announced she was retiring from swimming. "I'm ready to not be in pain every day. I'm ready to become a wife and, one day, a mother," she wrote for ESPN.

Years after their marriage, Franklin seemed to still have the same spark for Johnson. "Honestly, I am absolutely obsessed with my husband," she told People. The couple welcomed their first child together in 2021, a daughter named Sarah Caitlin.

Small but mighty Simone Biles was one of the biggest stars at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She earned four gold medals that year in gymnastics, three of them coming from individual events. "I'm not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps — I'm the first Simone Biles," she said at the games. By 2019, Biles had become the most decorated gymnast at the world championships in gymnastics, with an astounding 25 total medals, NPR reported. For her influence on gymnastics, President Biden awarded Biles with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022 alongside Denzel Washington, per The Hollywood Reporter. In her personal life, Biles usually had her boyfriend, Jonathan Owens, by her side — and she definitely couldn't miss him since Biles stands at 4 feet 8 inches in height while Owens is listed at 5 feet 11 inches. He is a professional football player and is a defensive back for the Houston Texans.

The two connected through online dating, where Biles made the first move. "I saw him, and I was like, 'Oh, he's pretty cute,' so I said hi," she recalled to the Wall Street Journal. The two started dating in 2021, and around Valentine's Day in 2022, Biles posted a photo on Instagram with Owens proposing. "I can't wait to spend forever & ever with you; you're everything I dreamed of and more! Let's get married, FIANCÉ," the gymnast wrote in the caption.

Though he hails from sunny Los Angeles, California, Adam Rippon is an expert on the ice. As a member of the Team USA figure skating team, Rippon was a part of the bronze medal-winning mixed team at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. Prior to the event, Rippon announced that he was gay, becoming one of the few openly gay athletes at those Olympics. "Do you remember growing up in Pennsylvania, thinking that being gay was something you would never tell anyone? When you publicly come out in the next year, you will let go of what other people think of you," he wrote for CBS. Following the games in South Korea, Rippon announced he would retire from professional ice skating. 

The year before retiring, Rippon was traveling for his sport when he matched with Jussi-Pekka Kajaala, a real estate broker from Finland, while using Tinder, People recapped. "Good boys Finnish first," Rippon captioned alongside a photo with his new man. in 2018. The couple continued a long-distance relationship for years, both from a geographical standpoint and followed by travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Rippon said things were great between him and "JP" and that "if everything goes well, we'll probably get married in like a few months." Sure enough, the couple had a surprise wedding on New Year's Eve in 2021. "We always wanted to do something simple and just the two of us," he told People about the unannounced marriage.

While it might not be the most popular sport in the United States, badminton has a devoted fanbase in many other countries, including India. One of the country's most popular stars in the sport is Saina Nehwal. After participating in her first Olympics at the 2008 Beijing games, Nehwal won a bronze medal in badminton at the 2012 London event. With her win, Nehwal became the first woman to ever win a badminton medal for India. Also, at the London Olympics, Parupalli Kashyap represented the men's side for India. While he didn't win a medal, Kashyap walked away with the girl of his dreams. 

He and Nehwal first met each other as teens in the late 90s at a badminton camp. "We dated for a long, long time. It was childish that we hid it from all our friends. We would be very secretive about it. We were shy and scared," Kashyap revealed. "Around 2009 to 2010 is when I thought I am going to be with this girl for a long time. (I started) thinking about marrying her or living together after the London 2012 Olympics. It got a little more serious in my mind," he added. It took a few more years, but the couple became married in 2018. "You are simply the most amazing woman in the world. I couldn't ask for a better wife," Kashyap posted on Instagram for his anniversary with Nehwal. She regularly posts photos with Kashyap traveling the world.

At a towering height of 6 feet 2 inches, Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova also towered over her competition during most of her career. When she retired in 2020, Sharapova had earned an impressive number of achievements in tennis. She won five Grand Slam titles, including her first at the 2004 Wimbledon championship. Sharapova was only 17 at the time, making her the fourth youngest player ever to win a Grand Slam. She also went on to win all three other major tournaments, making her only the fifth woman with a career Grand Slam, Tennis recapped. While she may have stopped playing tennis professionally, Sharapova's career was only just getting started. She became an entrepreneur, creating her Sugarpova candy brand. The former tennis star also became an investor in a cryptocurrency company and the luxury conglomerate Moncler Group, per Forbes. Then, in 2022, Sharapova became a mom. She and her fiancé Alexander Gilkes had a baby boy together. "The most beautiful, challenging, and rewarding gift our little family could ask for," she posted on Instagram.

Sharapova and Gilkes first announced their relationship in 2018. Gilkes is also an entrepreneur — the founder of the online auction site Paddle 8. The British Gilkes considers Prince Williams one of his friends since college, People recapped. By the end of 2020, Sharapova announced she was engaged to Gilkes. "I look forward to a lifetime of loving you and learning from you," the tennis star posted on Instagram.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, American gymnast Shawn Johnson dominated on the floor and took home a gold medal along with three silvers. Even more impressive, she was only 16 years old at the time. Just one year earlier, Johnson won the world all-around title at the age of 15. "I was dealing with, on one side, the pressures, the insecurities, the nerves, the sponsorships, the agents, all of that, and that was very hard for a 16-year-old to handle because I remember feeling very heavy by that and very weighted down," Johnson said. Not that it was an entirely negative experience because, as she explained, "I loved gymnastics more than anything in the world, and that was the coolest moment of my life." In 2012, Johnson announced her retirement from gymnastics, per Bleacher Report.

In 2016, she married Andrew East, a professional football player and former long-snapper for the Oakland Raiders. Their wedding ceremony was held outdoors in Tennessee, HuffPost reported. "We weren't trying to put on an elaborate wedding or have a wow factor. We wanted it to be quirky and traditional, and we wanted it to represent us," Johnson told People, even though the wedding looked very wow.

Though both athletes had their sports careers behind them, East and Johnson became what she called "serial entrepreneurs," she told the Olympics. This included a popular YouTube channel called The East Family, with almost 1.5 million followers as of 2023.

Though she may only have one Olympic gold medal, which is still an impressive feat, the impact of figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi's win is much more meaningful. At the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, Yamaguchi became the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Even with the historic win, Yamaguchi stayed humble and remembered she "just felt like any other California girl representing her country," per The Washington Post. Her win helped pave the way for future Asian American figure skaters like Michelle Kwan and Nathan Chen. Once her skating career ended, Yamaguchi still showed she could dance after winning "Dancing With the Stars." She was also married to another star on ice, NHL player Bret Hedican. 

In a fairytale meet cute, Yamaguchi first spoke with Hedican at the opening ceremony for the 1992 Olympics. While waiting to walk out with the other Americans, fellow ice skater Nancy Kerrigan suggested she and Yamaguchi meet some of the other athletes, which included the men's ice hockey team with Hedican. After Yamaguchi won her gold, she went to watch the men's team in the bronze medal match. "It wasn't really until a few years later where our paths crossed again, but that connection of being on the same Olympic team was kind of what spurred on interest," Yamaguchi explained in "Digging in with Tripp." The athletic couple went on to have two daughters together, Early Learning Nation recapped.

WNBA legend Lisa Leslie knew she was different from a young age. By the time she was only 12 years old, Leslie was already over six feet tall. The basketball player dominated during her college years at the University of Southern California, which earned her a spot on the 1996 Olympic team. After helping the squad win a gold medal, Leslie played professionally in Italy before the WNBA debuted in 1997, the Natural Women's History Museum recapped. Leslie signed with the Los Angeles Sparks, and within a few years, she became the league's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, ESPN recapped. While playing, she also unexpectedly found love. During a family trip, a fan of Leslie approached and suggested she connect with their 6 feet 7 inches pilot friend. Admittedly, she was skeptical about meeting this stranger. "I'm thinking, I'm not trying to meet anyone. I'm single; I'm good,'" Leslie told Essence. 

She ultimately gave out her number, even if she ignored the first several calls from the pilot Michael Lockwood. "When I called him back, we talked for eight hours that day and then every day for a month before meeting in person. It was nice to connect with him on a spiritual and intellectual level without having the pressure of the physical," Leslie said. One of the things that attracted her most to Lockwood was his sense of humor. The two later had a wedding in Maui and had a daughter together.

California native Morgan Beck is built to play volleyball, standing at 6 feet 3 inches in height. This dual threat was part of the Team USA beach volleyball team and also modeled. In fact, Complex named Beck as one of the 25 hottest athletes on the US Olympic team in 2012. That same year, she met Bode Miller, an Olympic skier for Team USA. In his career, Miller showed little fear as he raced down the mountain in alpine events, winning a total of six Olympic medals. Back in warmer weather in San Diego, Miller signed up for a matchmaking service and met Beck at a volleyball tournament. The two hit it off, but then Miller found out another woman in his life was pregnant with his child. Miller and Beck continued to date while the skier dealt with a custody battle over his son. The romance was swift between the two athletes, who married five months after meeting. "I'm probably the only woman in the world who would put up with this," Beck told ESPN about the family drama. 

Beck changed her name, Miller won custody, and the couple began to create a huge family, as seen in photos posted by Morgan on Instagram. The Millers had six children together, Nash, Asher, Aksel, Easton, Scarlet, and Emmy, while Bode has two kids from a previous relationship. Sadly, Emmy died in a drowning accident when she was only 19 months old, Today reported.