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Athletes on path to discovering the naked truth
Playboy fields American Mary Sauer, whose vaulting pole provides her only cover, and backstroke swimmer Haley Clark, shown one piece short of a one-piece swimsuit.
The world's media are exposing more of Olympic athletes' bodies this year than ever before, boosting ratings and periodical sales while coming closer to the original Olympic spirit: the cult of the body.
Playboy's September issue fields its own team -- without those sweaty shirts and shorts -- including American Mary Sauer, whose vaulting pole provides her only cover, and backstroke swimmer Haley Clark, shown one piece short of a one-piece swimsuit.
Covergirl Amy Acuff is shown well shod in her high-jump shoes -- but nothing else. "During the Olympics, it's a first," according to Playboy publicist Lauren Melone. Playboy carried nudes of a German Olympic skater in 1998, she said, but added that "Katarina Witt's pictures were published after the games were over."
The US edition of FHM (For Him Magazine) for September covers five US athletes in skimpy attire, including swimmer Amanda Beard, who had appeared in Maxim's August issue -- all grown up since she mounted the podium in Atlanta in 1996 to receive her gold medal, Teddy bear in hand.
The world-record holder in the 200-metre breaststroke told FHM, "I wear a two-piece a lot to train in, and I wedge it right up my butt. We swim like we are Brazilian swimmers: We have it up our asses." FHM said it may be their best-selling issue ever.
Vanity Fair magazine's September issue included black-and-white photographs by Bruce Weber of the Olympic hopefuls, both men and women.
NBC television owns the US rights to the Athens Games, and has broadcast up to four hours of beach volleyball a day, capitalising on the sport's popularity with the younger audiences that advertisers covet.
Mountain biking has also done well. Both sports have been Olympic events since 1996.
Olympic rules mandate the bikini for female volleyballers, while men are free to wear baggy shorts and tank-top.
Unlike Miss Universe, however, the Olympics do not monitor contestants' attire away from the competition.
The trend toward depicting athletes in locker-room attire is not restricted to the US.
The German edition of Playboy in September offers a look at German volleyball, hockey and fencing champions -- as the original Olympics were played: in the nude.
A retrospective at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, "Games for the Gods," includes a cup dating to AD 500, which depicts an athlete in competition, just as the gods sent him into the world.
The first Olympians competed in the nude, except for a coating of olive oil.
