VANCOUVER VOICE: Pin-up girls of the Winter Olympics

CURLING is just one of a number of sports which has enjoyed a sudden burst of interest during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

PIN-UP GIRL: Madeleine Du Pont was curling's Miss January as she posed for a calendar
to promote the sport (Getty Images)

But while snowboardcross and skicross have attracted those who have been enthralled by the thrills and spills on Cypress Mountain, many of curling's new crop of fans are thanks to Danish Olympian Madeleine Dupont.

Dupont, who will be leaving Vancouver empty handed after just missing out on a semi final spot, posed topless for a ‘Fire and Ice' calendar to raise the profile of the sport and has swiftly gained an army of male fans in the process.

And the Dane is not the first female Olympian to show off her athletic physique with alpine skiing downhill gold medallist Lindsey Vonn donning a bikini for the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated.

But are these pictures damaging for female athletes or are they the perfect tool to raise the profile of sports which are often overlooked for the remaining three years and 50 weeks before the next Olympics rolls around?

Opinions are mixed within the Olympic Village with golden girl Vonn proudly posing semi-naked on the beach in an attempt to bring skiing more into the mainstream, while compatriot and snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis has stated that that sort of behaviour is not befitting of role models for young children.

No doubt the debate will rumble on but there is still really only one way these ladies can cement their place in the history books and that is by achieving the most impressive feat of all - an Olympic gold medal.