Dutch athletes need your help

KQ · 10-10-2003, 02:17 PM

I know you'd love to help these poor girls out

Athletes Bare All to Pay for Training

Fri October 10, 2003 10:20 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Female Dutch athletes are baring all on a pay-per-view Web Site to fund training abroad during the winter after cuts in subsidies left them in the cold.

A nude runner basks in the sun embracing her knees, sitting next to starting blocks. Another black and white picture shows an athlete wearing nothing at all who is draped across a podium, her chin propped up on her arm as she looks into the lens.

"Most athletes travel to Spain, France, Portugal, South Africa or the Canary Islands early in the year to prepare for the new season in the sun," Joop Tervoort, an athletics trainer and one of the site creators, told Reuters.

"This year subsidies to the Royal Dutch Athletics Union were cut heavily and many athletes are still students who have a hard time scraping together extra money," he said.

Some 250 photos of six women are on Nude Female Dutch Athletes , which received almost two million hits on Monday alone.

Visitors can access the Web Site for 80 eurocents ($0.943) a minute and all the proceeds go to the women. They expect to earn about 1,000 euros ($1,185) each which will cover travel to warm countries and accommodation, Tervoort said. They will still need to pay for a coach, physiotherapist and masseur.

The Netherlands' 23-year old high jump champion, Frenke Bolt, features on the site that also includes female javelin throwers and shot putters and lists their achievements.

Tervoort also wants to attract internationally famed athletes, although most receive corporate sponsorship.

Sports personalities from other countries have already set the trend, with teams and individuals stripping off for extra publicity or to raise funds for sports associations.

The photographer and co-founder of the Dutch site, Alex Boer, said there was enough interest to add new photos each week and some male athletes had also asked to be included.

"First we will see how it goes as it is, then we will decide whether or not to set up a site for sportsmen."