As a postscript to the recent Tokyo Olympics, may I share a slightly redacted write-up in Opinyon that I did almost 10 years back. Some of the names here have grown passe, but the practice remains essentially the same.
To the run up of the London Olympics, a YouTube video of Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke doing sexy warm-ups attracted 15 million hits, confirming once more that girl-watching is a side sport in sports. There is no denying that.
Jenneke placed only fifth in her event, the 100 meters hurdles in the World Junior Athletic Championships in Barcelona, Spain, but she created so much sensation on the Internet, even earning a dubious entry in Wikipedia, that she came out like a champion.
This reminds us of Anna Kournikova of Russia who had legions of male fans, but who was olats, never winning a trophy in the WTA singles.
Kournikova won titles in the doubles mostly with Martina Hingis, the lovely Swiss player who bagged 5 Grand Slam titles. Hingis was the Kris Aquino of the tennis world, spewing taklesa comments such as saying competitor Amelie Mauresmo was “half a man”.
Tennis may have “full man” headliners such as Rafa, Federer, and Djoko, but the money goes to the women who are much sought after by consumer products and magazines.
Male-oriented magazines have harvested for their girlie spreads a parade of beautiful woman athletes in tennis, including a fleet of more Russians like Maria Kirilenko, Vera Zvonareza, and Elena Vesnina. I wonder what Lenin lessons they have imbibed.
Then there were Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, and Ana Ivanokic of Serbia who have been photographed in glamorous clothes complete with make-up and in various pa-seksi poses donning skimpy bikinis.
Today, there are Genie Bouchard of Canada, Magda Linette of Poland, Dayana Yastremska.
Would Christine Jacob have done these?
Where would institutional sports magazines be without the sexy issues? Sports Illustrated (SI) would probably have tanked a long time ago without its annual and special Swimsuit editions where even the controversial Maria Sharapova, once the world’s number one, has appeared wet with wild eyes.
It is not enough that the woman players almost die training and competing, they have to appear fashionable (if bikinis could be described so) and seductive too.
Even my all-time favorite, the stoic Steffi Graf of Germany, has appeared sexy in SI. Still etched on my mind is of her, front and rear, in white bikini standing like a tower of strength on a huge white stone.
USA tanker Amanda Beard, a fish in the water, had more right than the tennis women to be in bikinis but, instead, she chose to throw them away.
The seven-time Olympic medalist and two-time American Swimmer of the Year, posed nude for Playboy, FHM, and Maxim, showing off her well-toned form and to-die-for abs.
An Olympian gold winner in swimming, Federica Pellegrini, also appeared without clothes, one time in Italy’s Vanity Fair.
Would Akiko Thompson have shed her Speedos?
A retired Olympic star, Katarina Witt of East Germany, who won a lot of admiring mothers and daughters for her sensational performances in figure skating, posed naked in a forest for Playboy saying she wanted to erase “the cute, pretty ice princess” images and change people’s perception.
The Playboy issue with Kati, as she is called, was sold-out - the second time in the magazine‘s history, the other one being its maiden issue with the eternal Marilyn Monroe.
Playboy also displayed Gabrielle Reece, a leader of the American beach volleyball team who has garnered medals for her kills. A photographer has no choice but to be “arty” with his lights and poses when taking pictures of a body honed by discipline and drive.
What about the busty javelin thrower from Paraguay, Leryn Franco, who actually was a model back in her country, working part time as an athlete with podium dreams. Or Great Britain’s Olympic bike sprint queen Victoria Pendleton riding the saddle without panties on?
There must be a compulsion in these athletes to project womanhood sans birthday suits. I don’t think it’s about the talent fee. But I am no psychologist.
Another tennis player, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who has figured in top ten WTA ratings appeared naked on the cover and the inside pages of a Body Issue of ESPN Magazine.
ESPN Magazine has come up with Body issues, apparently as a response to SI Swimsuit editions, that have featured Hope Solo of soccer and martial arts star Ronda Rousey in their naked but fun and tasteful glories.
Depending on where you are coming from, ESPN apparently has legitimate reasons than Playboy for displaying “marvelous bodies” of athletes outside of the arenas.
The strongest allure of a lovely woman athlete is in her aura of battle and never-say-die attitude.
That is what I personally saw in the intense Leila Barros of Brazil at the Araneta Coliseum when her team gave their volleyball competitors a run for their money.
Barros went into beach volleyball, sending more male fans into frenzy as she donned scantier armors.
I guess when a woman feels comfortable and secure with herself, near or complete nakedness no longer becomes an issue. She may even feel more liberated.
The London Olympics 2012 prides itself as having almost half of the athletes entered are women and, for the first time in the history of the meet, will compete in all the 26 sports. Organizers are saying that the female power has come to its own.
We knew that. In 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, when the fearless Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored several 10s in gymnastics, a never-before heard of feat, the world looked in attention.
Scoreboards had to be changed, as well as paradigms. Sports are not just a man’s world.
Of course, Nadia was never photographed nude for magazines. The farthest she went was to be in a Jockey’s underwear emblazoned in a gigantic billboard on Times Square.
Men have to concede that women, clothed or naked, are co-equals. They have the right, the will and capacity to be not only faster, stronger, and higher, but lovelier too. As women drive for perfection, men could only gawk at them with awe, admiration, and even desire.