Olympians moonlight as pinup models

ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- There's a reason several U.S. female Olympians have posed nearly naked for men's magazines, and it boils down simply to the money, the New York Times reports.

High jumper Amy Acuff holds the record for most photo shoots -- she is on the cover of the Playboy magazine that hits the stores Friday and shares the cover of September's FHM magazine with three other Olympic athletes.

In a telephone interview, Acuff, 29, said she agreed to appear in Playboy as long as the photographs were tastefully executed and did not require her to show full frontal nudity.

"I did it for the financial aspect," she said. "It's really hard to make that kind of money in the real world."

In addition to the photo session, beginning Friday when the Games begin in Athens, she will also write about her experiences in a diary on playboy.com.

She would not reveal how much she was paid for the arrangement.

U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said the various deals the athletes struck to pose for the magazines were independent of their sports.

"Neither we nor their national governing bodies had anything to do with it," he said.