When the whole amateur thing went by the wayside, the Olympics lost some of its innocence. The steroids problem hasn't exactly restored it.

Yet they are still the Olympics, with the rings and the austere anthem and the international pride. Perhaps not the paragon of athletic virtue they once were, but on a different plane from traditional pro sports.

So what will people think of a prominent Olympic athlete deciding to pose in Ancient Games fashion -- that is, nude -- for Playboy?

American swimmer Amanda Beard, who has won two gold, four silver and one bronze medal in the past three Olympics and is aiming to compete again next year in Beijing, is on the cover of the July issue.

The only way to offer an opinion would be to pick up a copy.

That would be a first.

At one convenience store, they didn't sell Playboy but did employ a clerk who was highly skilled at offering judgmental looks.

At the second convenience store, it seemed like a good idea to approach the counter with something in hand -- a Payday candy bar seemed safe -- and an explanatory description.

"It's supposed to have an Olympic swimmer on the front."

As if that was different from some ditz being on the cover.

The clerk, a new guy too absorbed with doing a good job to think of being judgmental, went to a hidden shelf behind the counter and, just as someone else got in line, held up the magazine. "Is this it?"

Then, as another person took up the wait to check out, the scanner wouldn't process the Playboy bar code. A manager had to be called over to ring it in manually.

"You want a bag for that, don't you?" the clerk asked.

He probably didn't mean for the Payday.

Finally, the transaction was done.

The plastic wrapper that contained but didn't hide the magazine had a two-line promotional banner: "OLYMPIAN AMANDA BEARD TAKES OFF HER SWIMSUIT"

Not that Playboy was capitalizing on her day job or anything.

On the cover, Beard is in heavy makeup, a bikini bottom and has a strategically placed arm across her upper body. Next to her it says,

"Amanda Beard
The world's
Sexiest
Athlete
Nude"

The cover also notes, less prominently, that this issue has a Q&A with race car driver Danica Patrick and says she "Drives fast."

So if you pose nude, you're the world's sexiest athlete, but if you're wearing a low-cut cocktail dress and heels while stretched out across Firestone tires for your only photo in the magazine, you just drive fast. Got it.

In the story, Beard, 24, reminisces about the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when she was a scrawny teenager who toted around a teddy bear, including to the medal stand.

She talks about her body blossoming into that of a woman and having to adapt her swimming accordingly.

She is portrayed as a racy daredevil who is into motorcycles, surfing, snowboarding and paintball.

And she talks about being nervous when asked to do a shoot for Playboy, but figuring she should go for it before the body goes, about getting reassurance from her agent, father and boyfriend and deciding it was an honor. Nice guys, those men in her life.

But you probably aren't interested in the article.

The photos?

Well, they don't seem to be quite as revealing as the ones of the plastic-looking centerfold.

Beyond that, you would have to ask someone with a trained eye, but these don't seem that terribly different from what you see in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, for which Beard has posed.

There probably are some who find Beard's appearance in Playboy disgraceful, especially with the emphasized tie to the Olympics, just as there is the obligatory outcry each year over the SI swimsuit issue.

Or those who will worry that Beard's photos demean women's sports to the same extent that Don Imus or Augusta's rules or Ben Wright have.

That seems a bit overblown. After all, female athletes are always judged by their talent and never on their looks, right?

In her Playboy interview, and in a recent SI interview about the project, Beard defends herself on the grounds that she's proud of the body she's worked hard to sculpt and doesn't feel any shame. In the Playboy article, she even teases that she hopes any furor over her nude photos will work as a distraction to other swimmers.

Beard doesn't mention that being a Playboy model and cover subject wasn't exactly a charitable act.

So what's the, uh, bottom line on Beard's appearance in the skin magazine?

It's all about the payday.