WEST HOLLYWOOD—The human body is something we see throughout our lives day in and day out. Walking down the street in any city, you’ll see bodies of all different shapes and sizes and never really give them a second thought, except maybe if the person walking past you is pretty good looking. Well the human body is actually a very amazing piece of work. It can allow people to run for miles without getting tired, it can make a 300-pound man look like a ballerina, or make a man look like he was carved from stone. In light of the human body, ESPN magazine decided to dedicate an entire issue that celebrated the athletic body and gave sports a personal view of their heroes as they have never seen them before, and on October 19, ESPN held an event at the beautiful London Hotel in West Hollywood to celebrate the release of the special issue.

Six athletes were chosen to be featured on their own cover for the magazine. Most of these athletes were names most people who are in tune with the sports world would recognize such as tennis player Serena Williams, NBA superstar Dwight Howard and All-Everything NFL running back Adrian Peterson, but one of the most spectacular cover photos was of triathlete Sarah Reinertsen. The fact that anyone could swim over two miles, bike over 100 miles and then run over 26 miles all at one time is a pretty miraculous feat in itself, but that’s not what makes her unique. Reinertsen has been without her left leg since the age of 7 because she was born with a bone growth disorder called proximal femoral focal deficiency and has been working with a prosthetic leg ever since. Fortunately she didn’t allow that to slow her down. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she decided to take up track and field with other women in her situation, which eventually lead to her becoming the first female amputee to finish the Ironman Triathlon in 2005. Reinertsen had appeared on magazine covers before, but when she found out she would be taking it all off for ESPN she was a tad bit surprised.

“I was out of town, I was in London doing a triathlon, my mother got the call from the magazine and told me about the photo shoot and I was like cool. Weeks later when I was back in town she tells me I hope you’ve been doing extra abs because they’re really going to see everything and I said see everything? What are you talking about? She said oh this is nude and I was like WHAT? I would have never had told you that, but I figured at this point it had been a week since she told me and ESPN that I would do it and I figured if my mom had no problem with me doing it, then I should have no problem taking it all off,” said Sarah Reinertsen on her reaction when she found out she would be posing nude for ESPN.

Lolo Jones, who is a US Olympic Hurdler, also appeared in the magazine and had a similar reaction to Reinertsen when she found out she would be letting it all hang out in front of the camera.

“It was overwhelming you know I never imagined I would do anything like that so when I actually had to get in the room and drop everything it was kinda frightening, but they made it very comfortable,” said Jones.

To be able to run hurdles and compete in triathlons, an athlete’s body has to be in the best shape possible, but ESPN did not just capture the ideal body of an athlete, they also took photos of athletes whose bodies may not look like they could be one of the statues in a Greek temple, but they are just as graceful.

One of these athletes was sumo wrestler Byambajav Ulambayar. When people hear sumo wrestling, their first thought would be of obese men who are un-athletic and require no training to push each other outside the ring. In Ulambayr’s case most people would be very wrong. In his photo in the magazine the 300 plus-pound wrestler is doing the splits with his chin touching the floor and his hands grabbing both feet. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been around a lot of athletes and the only people that come close to that are gymnasts.

Another one of these amazing athletes was US Olympic shot putter Michelle Carter. She may not have washboard abs or wear a size two, but her lower body strength would give any defensive lineman trouble in the NFL.

“You don’t have to be tall, lean or muscular. It depends on what you do and what your body type is. It’s going to come in all different forms and shapes…people always think of athletes looking a certain type of way and depending on what the athlete does things will be different and I think it (ESPN magazine) showed that very well,” said Michelle Carter about the importance of the variety of athletes that appeared in the magazine.

One problem that may come with doing an issue like this is that it can send the wrong message, but what ESPN is trying to do is glorify the human body instead of objectifying it like most other magazines do when they ask people to pose nude. All the athletes, such as Sarah Reinertsen and Lolo Jones,  were glad to be a part of ESPN’s vision and have the opportunity to show everyone out there all the great things hard work and dedication can do for a person and their body.

“It’s really about an incredible group of athletes…I think we often times do get to see them like this, I do a sport like triathlons where we don’t wear a lot of clothes, but football players always wear a lot of clothes and hockey players always in a lot clothes, and I didn’t realize NASCAR drivers actually had fit bodies because their always in a big car. I love sort of disrobing the mystery, actually getting to see the machine under the armor so that’s what I thought was pretty cool. I love seeing how the body is different depending on your sport,” said Sarah Reinertsen.

“If it was putting athletes in Playboy or FHM it’s a totally different thing, but the fact that they put all the athletes together I think it’s a strong, positive statement. I believe it’s like a piece of artwork and all together it’s an amazing statement,” said Lolo Jones.