It’s that time of year again, where we get to fawn over our favorite athletes’ hot bodies, and wish that we looked just half as good as them.
ESPN Magazine’s annual Body Issue is dropping Friday and we can’t wait to see this year’s lineup. Some big names in sports posing nude for the 2014 issue include Venus Williams, Olympic gold medalist Jamie Anderson, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, U.S. World Cup player Omar Gonzalez, WNBA All-Star Angel McCoughtry, and light heavyweight boxing champion Bernard Hopkins, who at 49 years old will be crowned the oldest athlete in this year’s edition.
For the world champion boxer, being featured in the Body Issue represents a lot more:
“For me, it’s an honor to be there because I’m representing boxing and representing myself,” Hopkins said. “I look at myself and see my own agenda and I’m 49 and a half years old and 50 is great number for people to understand the transition and turning 50. It’s a milestone and to me is halftime of a lifetime. I’ve been asked to display an art, my body, my temple, to the world. Hopefully it motivates someone to say ‘He’s 49 and a half looking like that, I’m going to do something different in my lifestyle.’”
Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson also revealed that her experience shooting nude made her love the skin she’s in:
“I’m never done any naked shoots or even bikini shoots so it was new for me to do that,” Anderson said. “At first I was a little bit terrified but it was really good practice for me to accept everything about myself and love my body and not judge the little things that we do as women or anyone and just embrace where I’m at. With hurting my foot a month before the [May] shoot, I didn’t really get to run or anything. My first impression was that I want to work out and get super crazy fit. It didn’t really play out that way. I still live a healthy, active lifestyle but I wasn’t able to train as I would have. It became even more beneficial because I got to step back and embrace myself and how I am and not try to fit this Hollywood image of being really super skinny.”
With the 2014 Body Issue hitting newsstands on Friday, we decided to bless you with some of the hottest body issue shots over the years to hold you over until Friday. Hope you enjoy it; we definitely did!
SOURCE: USA Today | PHOTO CREDIT: ESPN.com
