Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings's Beauty Routine

Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

K

ate Sullivan, Allure magazine

American beach volleyball champions Kerri Walsh-Jennings and Misty May-Treanor have won their third set of Olympic gold medals. (Incidentally, the U.S. is now ahead of China in the medal count-thanks for the help ladies!) Their victory is exciting for our office not only because they're American, or because this marks their last Summer Games together and we're sentimental like that, but because Allure got to know the exceptional-and frankly, hilarious-partners when we featured them in the July story, "Golden Girls."

Walsh and May-Treanor, who have been teammates since 2000 and workout together six days a week, cracked jokes about discreetly de-wedgie-ing during the Games and defended their sport against haters who think it's about eye-candy, not athletics. "People are coming to see the volleyball, not the bikinis," said May-Treanor. And of course, because of that uniform, contributing editor Danielle Pergament did ask the pair about keeping up their bikini lines. "It was a glorious day when I discovered lasers," said Walsh-Jennings. "I hate getting waxed. Waxing makes me want to punch someone in the face." Ha. Yeah.

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Beauty favorites include bi-weekly facials for May-Treanor, and the Clarisonic face brush for both ladies, largely because of the gobs of sunscreen they wear while competing. (They like Neutrogena UltraSheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 45 before the game and Banana Boat Sport Performance SPF 30 for quick touch-ups during.)

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Now, some folks might criticize that we asked these athletes about their beauty routines, but come on: Sports and regular facials are not mutually exclusive. And shouldn't we highlight the beauty and love of beauty of all women and not just actresses and models? But beauty and female athletes has been a hot topic this Olympics for all of the wrong reasons. The Gabby Douglas hairstyle debate was ridiculous on various counts: 1) Her look was not competing. 2) She's 16, lay off. 3) Her hair was in a perfectly cute looped ponytail. What gives? And while I definitely understand why some track fans were outraged that Lolo Jones got more press attention than her silver-winning teammate Dawn Harper and bronze-winning teammate Kellie Wells, I'd argue that the attention was not solely about the hurdler's Rashida Jones-like beauty. At the last Olympic Games, Jones hit the ninth hurdle and the crowds' hearts hit the floor for her. I'm not saying her looks (or her well-timed virginity reveal or her Twitter popularity) had nothing to do with her coverage, but certainly the fact that the world had watched her brutal fall factored into her coverage. You can think Jones is a master marketer, but she qualified for the Olympics, and she came in fourth in the 100 meters, not last, so let's not pretend she's talentless.

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What do you think of the beauty controversies in the 2012 Olympic Games? And tell us, did you watch May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings's big win?


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