Fridae

"Before the Games started I was really anti-Olympics. But now they've started I'm really getting into the Olympic spirit," Phil, a British expat in the Chinese capital tells Fridae. "Instead of a medals table, a few of my friends and I have been keeping an Olympics hottie table. We post the hottest athletes of the day and perv over their photos."

The US is in the lead at the moment, helped by world champion decathlete stud muffin Brian Clay who's half Japanese and half African-American.

"We gave him extra points for stamina," Phil says. "We like the fact that he could probably do 10 events in our front room and not get tired."

The sports stars are graded out of eight. "You know eight is an auspicious number in China!" Phil adds.

How about the home team?

"We're not quite sure on the Chinese selection," he says. "But we're intrigued by [basketball superstar] Yao Ming. I mean just imagine seeing that much person naked. It's intriguing. They used to have cardboard cut outs of him McDonald's in Beijing and I only came up to his nipple level."

Fridae decided to pool more of a local opinion and headed to Promen, a Thursday night cocktail gathering for professional English-speaking gay men at a freshly-opened hotel bar.

Tonight's jaunt, which was billed as a special Olympics chill night, was at The Opposite House, a new boutique hotel from the realms of fancy. There was no reception area just a lone luggage trolley - actual manned desks are no longer necessary in design hotels, apparently; the toilets were a crazy circus of mirrors that threatened serious repercussions for those who had drunk too much; and the electronic room key system was so complicated that I watched a guest take about 20 minutes before she figured out to unlock her door. The comedy was on view to all - the bank of 99 guest rooms are visible via a giant glass wall from the lobby.

I scrambled through the crowds of oddball Olympic tourists - obviously straight and not in the know - and into a fair smattering of older western guys - "it's like a Santa Claus convention in here," quipped Phil - to poll the local gay crowd.

The results were curious. The rippling Olympic musclemen, many clad in near-naked lycra bodysuits or Speedo sheathes weren't doing it for the gay boys.

Two young Chinese men both said the athletes didn't really turn them on as they liked older men.

Gus, 26, from Hebei said he preferred the coaches.

"I like men in their 40s or 50s," he said.

Nineteen-year-old Bruce from Guizhou, whose companion was a "senior" grey-haired American, also said he dug the coaches.

"I'm not really into the athletes I prefer older men, I like the coaches," he said. His companion laughed and gave him a squeeze.

"That's why he likes me," he said.

"But I love watching basketball. It's really exciting. In fact I am
great at basket ball myself," said Bruce, not immodestly.

Record-breaking US swimmer Michael Phelps also wins Bruce's favour.

"I love Phelps. When he is swimming he looks like a shark. I like it when's he in the water, all wavy."

Not all the young Chinese men were looking for a sugar daddy.

Jason, also in his 20's from Inner Mongolia, said he had a thing for Chinese weightlifter Zhang Xiangxiang. Zhang scored gold last week in the 62kg clean-and-jerk category. After his successful lift he was snapped hugging his giant barbell.

"Zhang is so sexy," said Jason. "He's very cute and cool."

Jason scored full points on my Olympic score card for helping me attract the attention of the harried bar staff. Promen is now so successful a night that the just-opened bar was flailing to cope.

It got so bad that when a man in an orange suit minced in and said: "I can do beer! Does anyone want a beer?" we changed our orders from elaborate cocktails to bottles of Tsingtao to avoid dying of thirst.

Thirty-something Simon is visiting Beijing from Taiwan. He flew in on the new commercial flights between Beijing and Taipei which started back in July, heralding new closer China-Taiwan ties.

"It's very convenient," he said, but remained non-committal about the deeper meaning behind the new relationship.

So how does he rate the athletes?

"I like Chinese gymnast Li Xiaopeng. He's very sexy," laughed Simon. "But generally I prefer the American gymnasts, because they are powerful, they're beautiful and they have incredible bodies."

Could he suggest anyone in particular?

"I don't remember their names," he said.

His friend, Hugo, also from Taiwan, said the Olympics "wasn't his thing."

"I haven't really been noticing the men in the Olympics. Although I do like watching the volleyball."

The men's volleyball matches?

"No, women's."

Not the answer I was expecting. Was I in a lesbian bar, I wondered? In that case the gold booty-shorted Cubans would be bagging the gold.

Finally, Jerry from Chongqing injected a little dirt into the poll.

He thinks male volleyball players are "gorgeous."

"Those tall players are so sexy," he said. "I'm guessing they're really well hung."

We invite readers to tell us if they have been watching the Games and/or any particular athletes.