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UCLA alumna Amy Acuff clears the bar during the women's high jump finals at the U.S. Olympic trac

Come this August, a plethora of Bruin athletes will suit up and compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Most with their clothes on.

But at least two former UCLA Olympic athletes are making headlines for sporting in nothing but birthday suits.

Amy Acuff and Katie Vermeulen, former Bruin track-and-field athletes, have both posed nude in the September 2004 issue of Playboy magazine as part of a feature highlighting women in Olympic sports.

The issue is slated to hit newsstands sometime in August.

“This thing is done to celebrate women and women at the Olympics, and it’s not about boobs or butts,” Vermeulen told the Canadian Press. “It’s about strength and beauty and women who are strong and forceful, women who are posing to represent their strength and courage in their sport.”

“So to me, it’s much more than just posing for a magazine showing your body. It’s not just an expression of what we do, but who we are.”

Acuff, the more accomplished of the two, attended UCLA from 1994 to 1997 and specialized in the high jump. During her tenure at Westwood, Acuff was a five-time NCAA Champion and still holds the school record in that event with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches. 

The 29-year old Acuff, who has five U.S. titles under her belt, qualified and will participate in the 2004 Olympics, marking the third Olympiad she will partake in.

A model in her spare time and known for her flare for fashion, Acuff has been a mainstay in the top-10 rankings in the high jump and has a chance to collect that long elusive Olympic medal. 

While Acuff starred in her time at UCLA, Vermeulen enjoyed a short, yet successful stint as Bruin. A 26-year old long-distance runner from Victoria, Canada, Vermeulen transferred from West Virginia in 1999 and only stayed one year in Westwood, specializing in the 1500-meter outdoors and the indoor mile for the cross-country team. She claimed an NCAA title in the indoor mile in 1999.

“It’s going to be crazy, I’m not really prepared for it,” Vermeulen said. “I’m definitely not ashamed of it, but it is hard because there’s the whole connotation of it being a Playboy issue.”

Vermeulen did not qualify to participate in the Olympics in Athens.