5 Best Athlete Appearances on DWTS

Professional athletes have won six out of the 12 seasons of Dancing With the Stars and Hines Ward became the latest to do so.

Athletes tend to do better on the show because they are always in great shape, which makes the cardio aspect of dancing much easier. Emmitt Smith proved that athletes also just move better because they consistently mimic moves that are on the dance floor during their daily workout routines.

A new season is currently under way and features Hope Solo, who I believe has a chance to grace this slideshow in the near future.

The show has endured a ton of athletes, but here are the top five athletes to compete on the show.

Emmitt Smith

Emmitt Smith was the season 3 champion, and he was the first and only football player, before Hines Ward, to win DWTS.

Emmitt showed that he could dance with his quick running back feet, and he won over the crowd and the fans at home. Jerry Rice had come in second the year before, which also gave Emmitt some motivation.

Helio Castroneves

Helio was the season five champion of DWTS even though he was not the best dancer on the show.

Helio showed he could move on the show and he had a great personality that made fans fall in love with him, which ultimately led to him winning.

His quickstep in a banana-colored suit is one of the most entertaining dances in the show's history, and it proved that even the most technical ballroom dances can be exciting.

Kristi Yamaguchi

Krisiti Yamaguchi was the most technically gifted dancer among the athletes by far. In fact, the judges could barely critique her technique in the final weeks of the show.

During the last week of competition, Yamaguchi scored a perfect 90 for her three dances: the cha-cha, freestyle and jive. Yamaguchi became the only dancer to score perfectly in the show's history.

Yamaguchi also beat out fellow athlete Jason Taylor, which ended a streak of four consecutive male champions. But her performances often lacked the personality and the fun of some of the other athletes, perhaps because figure skating was too close to dancing.

Apolo Anton Ohno

He teamed with partner Julianne Hough to form the best pairing in the show's history, chemistrywise. It also helped that they were about the same height and moved in almost perfect unison.

As judge Bruno Tonioli said, "He looks like he's been dancing all his life."

Ohno was also the first Olympian to ever win the competition and was the season four champion.

Hines Ward

Hines Ward was the most recent champion and is arguably the best overall athlete to appear on the show.

Ward had the moves, personality, and the fans to back him and he became the first athlete to win the show since season eight.

Hines' dancing partner, Kym Johnson, had to overcome a neck injury to clinch the win. She hurt her neck in rehearsal one week, but the two stuck with it and were crowned champions after missing a perfect score by one point.