The Olympians

There is no greater celebration of the human form than the Olympic Games. Every four years the athletes of the world gather in one place for one reason: to see who has the best body. And the female athletes in this pictorial have bodies capable of truly remarkable feats. Long jumper Ineta Radevica routinely launches herself into a low earth orbit and alights a full Winnebago length from where she took off. High jumper Amy Acuff flows over a bar as tall as Tracy McGrady in a seemingly death-defying sequence: ponytail, back, butt, calves, toes. Mary Sauer and Fanni Juhasz brandish a 15-foot-long pole and, with a leap of faith, transform its potential energy into an elegant violation of the laws of gravity. Haley Clark swims faster than any woman ever. This year on Mount Olympus, these women will push their bodies to the limit as they strive to embody the Olympic credo of Citius, altius, fortius: Faster, higher, stronger. As witnessed here, their physiques also conform to the Bauhaus ideal. Form, after all, follows function.

Fanni Juhasz. Hungary, Pole Vault. Have you ever broken a pole? Yeah. I did a really good jump, and the pole couldn't keep up with me. It kicked me on my elbow, and I had to get two stitches. My first coach told me, "A pole-vaulter isn't a pole-vaulter until she breaks a pole." Do you have any pre-jump rituals? When I get to the runway, I hold my pole. I look at the bar and say to myself, "You have to jump up there." Are you superstitious? Kind of. I don't change the way I do my hair. I don't change into a different uniform. I put my socks on left foot first. Same with my shoes. But I try to think that it's just a regular day. What have you learned in America? The bad words. I usually use a lot of the F word. When I use a bad word, my teammates tell people, "She's a foreigner; she doesn't know what she's talking about." So I can say pretty much whatever I want.

Amy Acuff. United States, High Jump, two-time Olympian. What surprised you about life in the olympic Village? One of the big misconceptions is that every athlete is 100 percent serious about being there. A number of athletes in the Village--people who know they don't have a chance--are there to have a party. What's your olympic fantasy? Jumping seven feet. Everyone dreams about doing something no one imagined was possible. Would you rather have a Gold medal or a world record? A world record. The Olympic champion is the person who was the best that day. The person who holds a world record is someone who broke a paradigm. Why did you wear a fur outfit at the millrose games? It was interesting to see people's reactions. I'm not doing brain surgery. I'm jumping over a stick.

Zhanna Block. Ukraine, 100 Meters, two-time Olympian. In school, were you the fastest girl in the class? Yes. I beat some boys. In The 2000 Olympics you finished fifth. How close were you to a medal? Two hundredths of a second. Do you still think about it? Of course. Sometimes things don't go your way. Do you wear anything special on race day? I put a regular safety pin on the briefs part of my uniform for luck. That's what people do in my country. Do you watch American TV? My husband and I watched America's Next Top Model, but only because one of the girls on the show lived in our building. We were interested in where she was going to end up. She came in fourth. She's actually pretty good-looking. Better looking than you? She'd better be better looking than I am. I'm an athlete; she's a model.

Ineta Radevica. Latvia, Triple Jump and Long Jump. How would you explain the triple jump to someone who has never seen it? It's hard. Sometimes I explain it to people by jumping around in the street. They probably think I'm crazy. And I am. What's your best long-jump tip? Don't put on lotion before you jump. It causes the sand in the pit to stick to your skin. Is the idea to get your butt out as far as you can? The butt is your center of gravity. If you want to go the farthest and the highest, it's the center of everything. Tell us about Latvia. There are lots of pretty women in the capital city. I don't understand why all the men of the world aren't in Riga. What's your favorite American fast-Food joint? Burger King. A Whopper. Hold the pickles.

Katie Vermeulen. Canada, 1,500 Meters. Is running a contact sport? Oh yeah. The girls are all fighting for position, pushing and shoving. No one wants to get boxed in. What is the worst hit you've ever taken? I was passing someone, and I got spiked by her all the way up my leg. I still have spike marks above my knees. Did you win? I did. I was like, "La-di-da," and then I looked down and there was blood everywhere. Are you superstitious? I had a pair of lucky pink underwear when I was a kid. Do you have any lucky underwear now? We don't wear underwear. We wear bum huggers.

Susan Tiedtke-Green. Germany, Long Jump, three-time Olympian. Why did you become a long jumper? I made the 1984 Olympic gymnastics team, but East Germany boycotted the Games that year. I started jumping because it felt good to fly through the air. You were once suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs. What happened? They made a mistake. I tried to tell my side of the story, but they didn't care. Do you ever get burned-out? Yes. I took a break for a year because I no longer enjoyed it. I did no sports. Last summer I went jogging, and it felt nice, so I said, "I should train for the Olympics."

Haley Clark. United States, 100-Meter Backstroke, World Championship gold medalist and former world-record holder. Tell us about your swimsuit. It's designed to be fast. It's tight and difficult to get into. My swimsuit would fit my five-year-old sister. How long does it take to put it on? I've got it down to five minutes. The first time took 20 minutes. You have to be dry. It's impossible if you're wet. What happens if you rip your suit when the race is about to start? You flash the timers and go. We hear your friends call you the olympic nudist. It's true. I don't walk through the door and strip, but I might paint my nails naked. People aren't comfortable with themselves. I am. I'm a freak. I vote Republican, I worship Martha Stewart, and I don't mind being naked.

Mary Sauer. United States, Pole Vault. What don't people understand about the pole Vault? They think we use only one pole in a competition. Most of the time I go through five poles because of the differences in stiffness. When do you want a stiff one? You start off with a softer one, and then you work up to a stiffy. What would freud say about all of this? I don't think I want to know. Sometimes a pole is just a pole. What kind of height do you clear? Around 15 feet. And I'm afraid of heights. But when I pole-vault I can't tell how high in the air I am. I'll go driving down the freeway and see an overpass sign that reads Clearance 14 feet, 10 Inches, and I think, Wow, I've jumped over that. Have you ever thought about jumping over, say, Tractor trailers instead of the bar? When pole-vaulters get together, we all think about creative things that would attract more attention. We think the pole vault should be in the X Games. Maybe like pole-vaulting off the end of a pier. I think they did that in Jackass: The Movie.Have you ever had a Jackass moment? In 2000 I broke a pole in a meet. The pole recoiled and hit me in the back of the head. I had to get six staples back there. They had to pick the fiberglass out of my head. Everyone was like, "That was cool!" Some guys have come down with the top part of the pole between their legs. That's the kind of stuff that happens.

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