Female Athletes Bare All in The Body Issue

Natalie Coughlin photographed by Williams + Hirakawa for ESPN The Magazine

It’s a very big week in the world of female athletes, with the U.S. Women’s National team winning the World Cup gold medal on Sunday, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams facing off in a Wimbledon semifinal match on Thursday, the U.S. Women’s Open ;golf tournament is taking place this week, and ESPN The Magazine’sThe Body Issue;hits newsstands Friday. Since we know how much time and attention you pay attention to your body, we thought you’d appreciate this roundup of some of the amazing female athletes who are photographed for the seventh annual installment where they pose (tastefully) nude. Check out these athletes’ hard-earned physiques and use their photos as motivation to kill it during your next workout.

Images courtesy of ESPN.com

Natalie Coughlin photographed by Williams + Hirakawa for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Swimming

Age:32

Height:5’8″
Weight:141 pounds

One of the six cover models for The Body Issue, Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin was the first and only American to win six medals in all six events at the 2008 Olympics. In this interview with ESPN, she shares 12 secrets about herself, admitting that bodysurfing is one of the most unusual forms of training she does, and that, “I lift a lot more than I ever have. I lift four times a week. I can bench 70-pound dumbbells in each hand. I love that sensation of feeling so strong and powerful.”

Ali Krieger photographed by Williams + Hirakawa for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Soccer

Age: 30

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 138

World Cup gold medal winner Ali Krieger tells ESPN that, “It’s important to show your vulnerabilities. I’m proud of my body, I’m proud of my sport, I’m proud of being a female athlete. Being naked is just another aspect of that. It’s real. It’s raw. It’s honest.” She also talks about being known for her calves. “Everyone makes fun of my calves. They are so big. I don’t really even like them, I don’t really want them as big as they are, but I have no choice. In college, girls would come up to me: “I want your calves.” It just makes me laugh. I guess people pay a lot of money to have the types of bodies athletes have.

Sadena Parks photographed by Peter Hapak for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Golf

Age: 25

Height: 5’3

Weight: 123

“I want to be the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world,” Sadena Parks says in an interview with ESPN. “And I don’t want to be there for the blink of an eye; I want to be there for years. I want to maintain that.” She says that golf didn’t come easily to her, and that’s what attracted her to the sport. “I was really, really good at basketball and track. But it’s difficult to work on that when you’re just made for that. Golf gave me something to work on, it gave me something to live for. I enjoy the struggle; I feed off the struggle.”

Amanda Bingson photographed by Peter Hapak for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Track & Field Hammer Thrower

Age: 25

Height: 5’5″

Weight: 210

Amanda Bingson appears on one of the six covers of The Body Issue, and tells ESPN in an exclusive interview that she first heard the word “fat” when she was in middle school and weighed about 175 pounds. “I had always been so athletic and into sports; I didn’t think I was that fat. But everybody wants to fit that skinny ideal picture that we see on billboards all the time, and people would always remind me that that wasn’t me. So you just grow a thick skin.” Binson describes her body as “dense” in the interview and says that, “Generally when you look at athletes, you see their muscles and all that stuff; I don’t have any of that… I don’t have a six-pack. My legs are a little toned, but they aren’t bulging out. I’m just dense. I think it’s important to show that athletes come in all shapes and sizes.”

Dallas Friday photographed by Jason Lee for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Wakeboarding

Age: 28

Height: 5’2”

Weight: 108

“I was an explosive gymnast,” says professional wakeboarder Dallas Friday in an interview with ESPN. “It’s a super disciplined sport, and we were taught to be the best that we can be -so I transferred that to wakeboarding. Already having that air awareness, body strength, mobility and flexibility–that’s what really made me able to win the X Games [in 2001] and be the best. I’m fascinated with one-on-one work. It’s the hitting aspect, it’s a competition. Just doing combinations with someone else, it really pushes me. I’m going to keep my defenses up and protect myself. in addition to being a top-ranked female wakeboarder, Dallas is quite proud that she did 26 pullups last year. “That’s pretty impressive. I always like to brag around the boys because I know most of them can’t do that. Maybe they can do 20. Yep 26!”

Chantae McMillan photographed by Carlos Serrao for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Heptathlete

Age: 27

Height: 5’8″

Weight: 152

Olympic heptathlete has shopping problems some of our readers can relate to. “My lats are always ripping dresses. It’s definitely happened when I’ve lifted my arms up, and you hear that tear …” she said in an interview with ESPN. “I don’t look in the mirror and think “slim”; I look in the mirror and I’m like, “Whoa, beast!” It’s just crazy how much the body changes. Looking in the mirror I get surprised like every other week. It’s like I’m Wonder Woman.”

Aly Raisman photographed by Mark Seliger for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Gymnastics

Age: 21

Height: 5’2”

Weight: 115

Olympic gymnast Ali Raisman says that if she makes the 2016 U.S. Olympic team, she’ll be the oldest gymnast on the American team. “My body is a little bit more achy than it was before, but at the same time I feel like I’m smarter now and able to understand the recovery process,” she says in an interview with ESPN.”You work your whole life for a minute-and-a-half beam routine. I work out six days, 32 hours a week for the dream of competing at the Olympics again,” she says in the ESPN interview.

Gabby Reece and Laird Hamilton photographed by Peggy Sirota for ESPN The Magazine

Sport: Beach volleyball

Age: 45

Height: 6’3″

Weight: 170

Professional beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece poses nude with her husband, 51-year-old surfer Laird Hamilton, in ESPN’s annual issue. She tells ESPN that “My knees are my teachers. ;Injuries make you better because you figure out the ways to improve, to get around them, change things up to fix it.” Reece tells us that staying healthy means “Covering the basics” and you have to have good nutrition, exercise, and sleep. “These elements are key pillars in finding balance. Having said that, if you slip from time to time don’t beat yourself up, just re-commit. I believe the more out of balance we feel, the more imperative these fundamentals become,” she says.