Athletes Bare All For The Body Issue

Now in its seventh year celebrating athletes of all shapes and sizes, ESPN The Magazine’s The Body Issue has returned with some of sport’s biggest names showing skin.

Looking different than the typical woman is something that might bother some people, but 21-year-old US Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Aly Raisman embraces the fact that she strays from the norm.

"I think imperfection is beauty," Raisman said. "Instead of being insecure about my muscles, I've learned to love them. I don't even think of it as a flaw anymore because it's made me into the athlete that I am."

"Our goal is to continue to evolve the issue year after year," ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com editor in chief Chad Millman said. "The ability to capture both the strength and vulnerability of these extraordinary athletes through such powerful images and introspective interviews is incredibly moving."

The highly anticipated release of the 2015 edition features 24 athletes, with Washington Nationals baseball star Bryce Harper joined by NBA stars Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers and DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., two-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner, USA women's soccer star Ali Krieger, Olympians Aly Raisman and Natalie Coughlin, and newly crowned French Open champion Stan Wawrinka all taking the plunge.

The magazine is available online from today and from newsstands July 10.

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