Amanda Beard sparks naked Olympics: German athletes nude in Playboy!

Everyone for a naked Olympics, raise your hands!

Some observers are concerned about an increasingly revealing trend in sports marketing for Olympic athletes.

Swimmer Amanda Beard posed nude for Playboy in 2007 and again for PETA this month, and even signed copies of the photo at the Games.

Women's Tennis Assn. star Ashley Harkleroad bared it all in Playboy too, although she skipped the Beijing Olympics.

The latest issue of German Playboy features for nude Olympic athletes: canoeist Nicole Reinhardt, hockey player Katharina Scholz, sailor Petra Niemann and judoka Romy Tarangul.

Beijing fencing gold medalist Britta Heidemann posed for the mag too, four years ago.

Do Olympic athletes have to strip for lucrative endorsements? Should they?

Before we get all prissy, it's worth noting that in the original ancient Olympics, athletes competed in their events naked.

Check out Tony Perrottet's marvelous and funny book "The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games."

You think the Olympic Games are big now? Go naked, and then we're talking ratings.

Photo: Playboy

Comments

[Big Shaker]

I can't think of a Playboy pictorial less arousing than one featuring nude German athletes, unless it's one featuring nude Russian athletes.

[Susan]

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[TWENY COUT]

How ludicrous to be puritanical about a well toned athelete who doesn't mind the world looking at them nude- in print or where ever.

I mean, what more beautiful than the human body? Well, a good looking one..and in my case, women.

Jeez louise- the idiot creationist thinkers of the world need to stop being Pilgrims and face the natural reality of the world- and that certainly includes nudity.