Former Bruins pose for Playboy
By Seth Fast Glass
July 25, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Come this August, a plethora of Bruin athletes will suit up and
compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Most with their clothes on.
But at least two former UCLA Olympic athletes are making
headlines for sporting in nothing but birthday suits.
Amy Acuff and Katie Vermeulen, former Bruin track-and-field
athletes, have both posed nude in the September 2004 issue of
Playboy magazine as part of a feature highlighting women in Olympic
sports.
The issue is slated to hit newsstands sometime in August.
“This thing is done to celebrate women and women at the
Olympics, and it’s not about boobs or butts,” Vermeulen
told the Canadian Press. “It’s about strength and
beauty and women who are strong and forceful, women who are posing
to represent their strength and courage in their sport.”
“So to me, it’s much more than just posing for a
magazine showing your body. It’s not just an expression of
what we do, but who we are.”
Acuff, the more accomplished of the two, attended UCLA from 1994
to 1997 and specialized in the high jump. During her tenure at
Westwood, Acuff was a five-time NCAA Champion and still holds the
school record in that event with a leap of 6 feet, 6
inches.Â
The 29-year old Acuff, who has five U.S. titles under her belt,
qualified and will participate in the 2004 Olympics, marking the
third Olympiad she will partake in.
A model in her spare time and known for her flare for fashion,
Acuff has been a mainstay in the top-10 rankings in the high jump
and has a chance to collect that long elusive Olympic
medal.Â
While Acuff starred in her time at UCLA, Vermeulen enjoyed a
short, yet successful stint as Bruin. A 26-year old long-distance
runner from Victoria, Canada, Vermeulen transferred from West
Virginia in 1999 and only stayed one year in Westwood, specializing
in the 1500-meter outdoors and the indoor mile for the
cross-country team. She claimed an NCAA title in the indoor mile in
1999.
“It’s going to be crazy, I’m not really
prepared for it,” Vermeulen said. “I’m definitely
not ashamed of it, but it is hard because there’s the whole
connotation of it being a Playboy issue.”
Vermeulen did not qualify to participate in the Olympics in
Athens.
