The Winter Olympics are over, but at least the athletes still have their sexy Tinder memories

THE Winter Olympics are over. That’s it. Snow more. But at least these hot, young athletes can go home with some very sexy memories.

Kiwi Rebecca Torr saw the fun side of Tinder.

THE Winter Olympics are over. That’s it. Snow more.

Most of the athletes will fade from our memories pretty quickly now, but you can bet the fit young things will remember each other.

Of course, every Olympic competition is a hotbed of hot people in increasingly hot beds. The difference in Sochi was that so many of those hot people were lying under the covers with their phones instead of their fellow athletes.

The hook-up app Tinder experienced a 400 per cent day-over-day increase in new users during the Games. That’s because a LOT of athletes were signing up, such as Jamie Anderson here.

News_Module: Snowboarder Jamie Anderson

The app is simple enough to use. A random profile flashes up on the screen, and the user either swipes left to reject the potential match or right to signal their interest. If both people swipe right, they’re allowed to message each other.

You can imagine how it progresses from there.

HERE’S HOW THE FUN STARTED

Anderson first drew our attention to Tinder’s popularity in Sochi two weeks ago.

“It’s all athletes! In the mountain village it’s all athletes,” she said. “It’s hilarious. There are some cuties on there.”

News_Image_File: US snowboarder Jamie Anderson.

Anderson actually abandoned her account to focus on her event (she ended up winning a gold medal), but her fellow Olympians flocked to the app.

“I guess it was the first thing people did when we got to the village. We checked Tinder,” skier Gus Kenworthy told TODAY.

“For me it’s definitely more the game aspect that’s fun. Who you think’s hot, see if they do too.”

Kenworthy probably didn’t need Tinder anyway. He was seen hanging out with figure skater Gracie Gold from the very start of the Olympics, and didn’t exactly quell the inevitable rumours.

Hung out with @guskenworthy before Opening Ceremonies #Sochi2014 #teamnike pic.twitter.com/xSbkHVUvu9

But Kenworthy’s fellow skiers Joss Christensen and Nick Goepper were playing around with the app too. The latter said his strategy was to “swipe right all day”.

“Got to keep your options open,” Goepper said. “I’ve gotten quite a few notifications that say, ‘This person wants to kiss you’.”

Lucky boy.

News_Image_File: The three cheeky skiers. That’s Nick on the right.

Christensen thought most of the athletes on Tinder were American.

“It’s the normal crew we’re used to seeing,” Christensen told TODAY. “It’s all the Americans we’re used to travelling with.”

But New Zealander Rebecca Torr was also a fan. She joked about wanting to meet the Jamaican bobsleigh team on the app. Her wish was eventually granted.

News_Module: Rebecca Torr

Luger Kate Hansen was another who publicly admitted to using Tinder. She said the athletes weren’t the only ones looking for a bit of fun during the Olympics.

“I’ve actually met a lot of interns for NBC and other media who are Tindering athletes,” Hansen said. “This one intern was showing me her matches, they are all athletes.”

You can't trust those media types. They’re always up to no good.

News_Module: Kate Hansen

It’s easy to understand why so many Olympians were using Tinder. Dr Judy Kuriansky, a sex therapist and clinical psychologist, explained it all to America’s ABC News.

“It’s like making the ingredients of a huge stew — a stew of sexual ingredients,” Dr Kuriansky said. “There is stress, which causes tension, and anxiety and energy, and a massive outpouring of chemicals in the body — adrenalin and endorphins. It’s a powerful concoction of chemicals.

“Everyone knows the runner’s high. Olympian athletes certainly have it. It's orgasmic.”

THE SEXIEST STARS OF THE SOCHI GAMES

Of course, Olympians don’t necessarily need a hook-up app to show off their athletic frames. Several members of Russia’s Olympic squad, including curling captain Anna Sidorova and speed skater Tatiana Borodulina, posed for some rather racy photos before the Games started. Canada’s male curling team actually released a semi-nude calendar.

News_Image_File: Curling is sexy. Who knew?

SPEAKING OF ANNA SIDOROVA ...

Meanwhile, an anonymous Tumblr blog spent much of the Olympics busily collecting pictures it claimed were from the athletes’ Tinder profiles.

The blog could be a spoof, but if the athletes’ own words are to be believed, there were quite a few photos to collect.