Every year dozens of sportsmen and women strip off for the ESPN Body Issue. There’s always controversy about whether the magazine should be printed at all.
However, there’s one thing we are sure about: Amanda Bingson rocks.
Who is Amanda Bingson? She’s an American Olympic track and field hammer thrower. For once, the Body Issue isn’t just showing athletes with your typical trimmed toned body.
I’ll be honest, I like everything about my body…
“I think it’s important to show that athletes come in all shapes and sizes,” Amanda told ESPN. “My arm is just my arm – it’s not cut, it’s not sculpted,” “I don’t have a six-pack. My legs are a little toned, but they aren’t bulging out. I’m just dense.”
Amanda broke the female American record for hammer throwing in 2013, a whopping 248ft. She’s hoping to win a gold medal at the Rio Olympics next year.
“I never knew that I was the fat kid in school until a boy told me that I was too fat. I thought, “What does that mean?” 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. Like I said, I’ll still whip your ass if we ever got into a fight.”
Go Amanda!