From scantily-clad beach volleyball to Germany’s finest hockey player baring all for a steamy photo-shoot, sex sells at the Olympics.Topless photos of hockey player Katharina Scholz, sailor Petra Niemann, judo competitor Romy Tarangul and canoeist Nicole Reinhardt are on four alternative front covers of the latest German edition of Playboy magazine.
“For me it was a good opportunity, and maybe when I look back after a few years I will be proud of it,” said 25-year-old Katharina Scholz. “Not everybody can go on the cover of Playboy. I did it because I am confident of my body and myself. It wasn’t a group decision, we haven’t seen each other. The shooting was separate. Everyone decided it for themselves.” Other Olympians have also been happy to pose in and out of competition.
US Olympic swimming champion Amanda Beard posed naked in Playboy last year, and three British athletes including triple jumper Phillips Idowu bared all as part of an advertising campaign ahead of this year’s Games.
The four Germans can be seen in the September issue of German Playboy.
