A Biography of Amanda Beard: From Olympic Swimmer to Playboy Model

Amanda Beard is a professional swimmer who has won a large collection of medals at the Olympics. She is slowly becoming even more famous for her swimsuit modeling and her appearance in the July 2007 issue of Playboy.

Amanda Beard was born in Irvine, California, on October 29, 1981. She was a very successful youth swimmer growing up in Southern California, and became an international threat in swimming at a very young age.

Beard made her first appearance at the Olympics when she was only 14 years old in the 1996 Olympic Games. Despite her youth, she did not disappoint as she managed to capture a total of three medals. She won two silver medals, one in the 100-meter breaststroke and one in the 200-meter breaststroke. She also won a gold medal as part of the 4x100 meter medley relay team.

Her appearance at the 2000 Sydney Olympics were not as successful as Amanda Beard was only able to capture one medal, a bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke.

After the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Beard began attending the University of Arizona where she won an individual NCAA National Championship in 2001.

In 2003, Amanda Beard began to earn more fame for her swimming as she won the World Championships and broke the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke.

A year later, at the Athens Olympics, Beard once again was able to capture three medals in a single Olympics. Her highpoint came in the 200-meter breaststroke where she captured the gold medal. She won a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley and another in the 4x100 meter medley relay. She just missed out on a medal in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing in fourth place.

The fame that Amanda Beard has earned through swimming has opened many different opportunities for her outside of swimming, with many coming in modeling.

Beard was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. She has also been on the cover of FHM Magazine twice. She first appeared on FHM's cover in September of 2004, and she later appeared on the FHM cover of the August 2006 issue. The August 2006 issue of FHM named Amanda Beard the world's sexiest athlete.

Amanda Beard has generated the most talk by posing nude for the July 2007 issue of Playboy Magazine. Beard is the featured girl on the cover, and is also featured inside.