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Amanda Beard gets under people's skin with this...

Olympic Swimmer Amanda Beard Makes Waves
Outside the Pool. Again.

Olympic swimmer -- and part-time nude model -- Amanda Beard has exposed herself again ... but she didn't do it for her own exposure this time around (see previous: Amanda Beard in Playboy) ... this time she's showing some skin to get under yours and expose the reality of cruelty to animals at the expense of the human fashion condition.

The efforts were effective on Chinese authorities, who insisted that the risque ad only be displayed outside the Olympic Village. Beard herself is surprised by the controversy the ad has sparked. 'Cause, you know, it's always a shocker when controversy arises from a publicity stunt intended to created controversy.

On a side note, the former gold-medalist also happens to be swimming in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The starting gun for the Women's 200m Breaststroke event will fire on Wednesday at 7:30pm Beijing time, which translates to 7:30am EDT / 4:30am PDT. Yeah, I won't be tuning in. But I hope she takes the gold medal and maybe even breaks a record like her USA Swimming teammate Michael Phelps did last night!

Is Carl Edwards too Oedipally close to this...?

The relationship between Carl Edwards and his mother, Nancy Sterling, is a frequent topic of conversation among NASCAR fans if for no other reason than the fact that she is always around. And we mean always.

But Carl's recent declaration that he's not even thinking about marriage to girlfriend Kate Downey has raised polite conversation to a debate. Is Carl too close to his mom? Is there enough space in their relationship for Carl to have a girlfriend? Would you want Nancy Sterling for a mother-in-law?

Here's a FAQ posed by Answer this... reader Graceface:

"Does anyone else think that Carl's relationship with his mother has touched on the "creepy" side? 

"I'm not trying to take away from or downplay the fact that his mother is important and his supporter (of course there is love between them and she sacrificed for him), but it always seems a tick awkward when you see this big head of long blonde hair (attached to this middle-aged woman) moving into the car window to give him the first smooch; and then seen lurking in the background of most of his post-race interviews. Finally, on Mom's Day he made the comment about having the 'best looking mom.' 

"None of these incidents, when looked at separately, are really all that weird; but put them all together and it's borderline creep-o. I mean c'mon... with those abs, dimples and million dollar smile ... it's just odd that the main woman he's seen with and speaks of is "mama" most of the time. We just don't see this from other drivers and their moms. She kinda seems like Trey McDougall's mother from Sex and the City. Would Carl's girlfriend roll over one morning and find her in bed in between them? Is she scaring the girls away? Staking her claim? Just wondering what anyone else thinks out there."

Is Carl's mom a third wheel?


Does she keep the women in Carl's life at arm's length?

What are your thoughts on this... ?

Go Daddy goes off the deep end with this...

She's sizzling hot. She's edgy. Some might even suggest she can be a "touch inappropriate." She's Amanda Beard and she's the newest Go Daddy Girl for the world's dominant domain name registrar. GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons announced Amanda as his latest addition to a powerhouse spokesperson posse.

People around the world have heard of Amanda's athletic prowess, which includes two gold medals, four silvers and a bronze, as well as a national championship. The new Go Daddy Girl has been one of the most downloaded athletes in the world. She also has a modeling resume that includes Sports Illustrated, the cover of Outside, as well as racy men's magazines such as Maxim and FHM, and the coveted Playboy cover.

Quoting this...

"Amanda is the complete package and 100 percent godaddyesque. She's beautiful, no doubt about it, but more importantly, Amanda is a world-class athlete, an accomplished model and an articulate business woman.

"Amanda captured America's attention in the pool and now she's turning heads just about everywhere else. She's proving to everyone that it's possible to be powerful, beautiful and smart – a perfect fit at GoDaddy.com"

~ Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com

"Being a Go Daddy Girl is the icing on the cake for me. I'm excited to be with a world leader. Go Daddy is the best in the world at what they do, they like to take chances and they certainly know how to have fun – who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

"I know what it takes to be a champion in the pool and a cover girl in front of the cameras. But it took some help from GoDaddy.com to make me a winner on the Internet."

~ Amanda Beard

www.godaddy.com/amanda

Meet the other Go Daddy Girls

WWE Diva Candace Michelle
IndyCar Driver Danica Patrick
AHDRA Racer Valerie Thompson

Letterman talks swimming and Playboy with this...

World's sexiest athlete poses nude in this...

Q. Did Amanda Beard really pose nude in Playboy?
A. Yeppers.

Q. Have you seen the pictures of Amanda Beard in Playboy?
A. Not yet.

Q. Are you going to post Amanda Beard's nude photos?
A. Um, no. Not getting pornographic just cause an Answer this... subject posed nude in a magazine. Per usual, there will be no nudity posted or linked. Now, if I happen to come across the photos down the road, there's a chance subscribers might see a link pop up in TGOM's announcements, but that remains to be seen.

TGOM Has A Question
Q. Do you think Amanda Beard is the world's sexiest athlete? If not, then who?

Racing changed how a swimmer looked at this...

NYT - In 2005, [Olympic Swimmer Amanda] Beard began dating the Nascar driver Carl Edwards. Traveling with him on the racecar circuit was hard, and not only because she constantly worried that he was one turn from a fiery crash.

"Not being involved in the competition, it was such a helpless feeling," Beard said. "I couldn't work on the car. I couldn't jump in the car and drive it. All I could do was be supportive. I'm not used to being on that side."

Hanging out with the racing crowd changed how Beard looked at herself as an athlete. "I saw guys in their 50s still racing cars and having fun and it was very interesting to me," she said.

A thought that she had pushed into the back of her mind after Athens came creeping back: She was still young. Why should she retire from swimming if she did not want to?

Full story

FHM cover girl answers this...

Amanda Beard, Olympic swimmer and former girlfriend of  NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Carl Edwards, has been declared the World's Sexiest Athlete by FHM. She graces the cover of the magazine's August issue and clears up a burning question for Answer this... readers.

Would you have been able to hang out in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s pit before winning an Olympic gold medal?

That sounds dirty. You shouldn't say that since my ex-boyfriend Carl Edwards races against him. I've been in his pit a lot. Actually, I had liked NASCAR for a long time, but obviously while I was dating Carl I had more of an emotional attachment to it, more of a "please don't crash and die" kind of attachment. Like, when I'm swimming and I'm competing, I don't even care. I'm completely calm, but when I was with Carl, I was a nervous wreck every race. I don't run the risk of dying while I'm swimming. So after the race, I was always like, "OK, it was a good race because you're alive."

Why is a famous Nextel Cup driver an ex-boyfriend?

I'm a really laid-back, chilled-out person. I’m a surfer girl from Southern California, and when you date a race-car driver, there’s so much stress. Race-car drivers are too intense for me. There’s no way you could get me to jump in a car and go 200 mph around the track slamming into people. You have to be an intense person to handle those race cars, and I’m not.

What's harder: winning a NASCAR Nextel Cup race or a gold medal?

Definitely winning a gold medal is harder. I think that's way hard, because you get that opportunity only once every four years, so if you screw up for one race, you're screwed for four more years. In racing, if you don’t do well in one race, oh well, there's another one a week later.

More pics, video and complete interview at FHMUS.com.

Update 07.13.06
Video clip: The Early Show interview

Darlington: Most FAQs from this...