The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has featured tennis players Stefi Graf, Serena Williams and Anna Kournikova, who has also appeared in FHM and Maxim and several top sexy and beautiful lists. Olympic competitors volleyball player Gabrielle Reece and high jumper Amy Acuff, plus Olympic golds figure skater Katarina Witt and swimmer Amanda Beard, have all posed for Playboy. WWE star Vito LoGrasso has appeared in Playgirl, while in 2007 New Woman magazine’s top 100 sexiest men list included Chelsea football coach Jose Mourinho and footballers Thierry Henry and David Beckham. Angry football fans protested when Brazilian Playboy featured Ana Paula De Oliveira, a controversial referee’s assistant, in 13 erotic poses in their July 2007 edition. Head referee Edson Rezende said,’Being naked in Playboy isn’t the way forward for officials.’ FIFA have withdrawn her accreditation.
‘In Holland and Spain and France, where so many of us come from,
people aren’t interested in the sex lives of their players. We don’t
hear these stories — even in Italy where the media is right on top
of football.’ Dennis Bergkamp, talking about the UK press