Beauty of Olympic Proportions! BUILT FOR SPEED 4 Double Gold MARIE JOSE PEREC 8 Leaps & Mounds JACQUI AGYEPONG 12 World Championship Form HABTEMariaM NEBIAT NET ASSETS
16 Big Girl in the Middle Gabrielle Reece
19 Volley Girls NANCY RENO
19 HOLLY McPEAK
20 Beauty and the Beach LIANE FENWICK
24 Striking Out A•Broad KEBA PHIPPS HOOP DREAMS
26 The Center of Attention LISA LESLIE
28 Awesome Aussie TRISH FALLON
32 Face Jam Kylie Ireland
36 Dennis' Menace ANICKA RODMAN
40 TheWorm's Turn-On STACY YARBROUGH TENNIS ACES
42 Fraulein Forehand Steffi Graf
44 Czech This Out! JANA NOVOTNA
46 Swiss {Can't} Miss MARTINA HINGIS
50 'Special K' Anna Kournikova
52 Wimbledon's Winning Streak Melissa Johnson LETHALWEAPONS
54 'The Best Ever' Cynthia Rothrock
58 Hollywood & Fine! Jeanne Basone
62 A Total Knockout Leslie Glass BODIES OF WATER
66 Synch or Swim Estella Warren
69 Doing the Front Stroke METTE JACOBSEN
70 Franzi Freestyle Franziska van ALMSICK
72 Golden Goddess of Water Skiing CAMILLE DUVALL ON THE BEAM
74 A Perfect Ten Andrea Molnar
76 She Can Do It! KERRI STRUG
78 America's Most Decorated Gymnast SHANNON MILLER HOT OFF THE PRESSES
80 The Queen of Fitness MARLA DUNCAN
84 The Biggest and The Best NICOLE BASS
88 Muscle Elegance Denise Masino
92 TheWomen of Bill Dobbins LAURA CREAVALLE
93 SHARON BRUNEAU
94 DEBBIE MUGGLI
95 Yolanda HUGHES
96 ERIKA ANDERSCH
97 SHA-RI PENDLETON
98 Back Issues Available
99 Special Offers
EDITORIAL
THE SLEUTHSAYER
My hometown paper, The Washington Post, termed the 1996 Atlanta Games, "A
gawkfest of sex appeal," while Vogue asked simply: "The Olympics gives
us buff gods and goddesses performing at the limits of hUmma-porn-star">Uman capacity. Which would
you rather watch?" God, that's a hard one...
"Neither culturally, figuratively nor sexually has the woman who plays sports
in America ever been accepted," Newsweek began its Olympic preview. "As
it turns out, they ain't bad at it, the ladies {GO FIGURE!}. The American woman's
team will, in fact, literally be the better half {we were trained to go all outfor
BOTH halves}. It could be," Newsweekconcluded, "that this will be the
summer that we decide that America's best ladies are the ones sweating."
And their perspiration is our inspiration.
These "Celebrity Sweathearts" helped make '96 the official "Year
of the Woman" in Olympic sports. Gushdd gold medal softball pitcher Lisa
Fernandez: "It was almost like we came together as one." And the official
tally of those decorated athletes who "came together" in Atlanta was
two...female competitors with pierced nipples, that is {including Fernandez's
softball teammate Kim Maher}.
All this exposure could mean exploitation. As Woman's Sports Foundation head Donna
A. Lopiano warned, "Here are questions to ask in evaluating images of women
in sports: Is she dressed like an athlete? Does she have all her clothes on? Does
the picture focus on an inappropriate body part? and Do the words and pictures
go together?" As always in SLEUTH, you'll find that the facts augment the
figures.
"The first Olympic athletes competed in the nude," Life magazine reminds
us, "stripped completely bare beneath the awesome Hellenic sun. Apart from
the obvious question—what did they do for sunblock?—the sight must
have been inspiring, brilliant. It was meant to be." As is this...
Proving our medal once again,
