ADMIRING ATTRACTIVE SPORTS STARS IS JUST HUMAN NATURE.

Byline: JILL PAINTER

Come on, guys, admit it.

You just had to see Amanda Beard's Playboy photo spread, didn't you?

Beard, the sexy 25-year-old swimmer, will forever be known as an Olympic gold medalist and July cover girl of Playboy.

Whether you bought the magazine and stuck it under your mattress or passed it around the poker table, I bet you checked her out.

Don't worry, I'm not going to scold you. The only pangs of guilt I felt checking out Beard's pictures concerned the possibility someone at the office would spot the magazine and not consider it research.

There's not a reason in the world to feel guilty about looking at attractive athletes and admiring their beauty and fitness in addition to their sports accomplishments.

Beard is fit, healthy and attractive. She showcased the human body, though not all of it.

When Maria Sharapova wears a tennis skirt on the court or swimsuit off it, it's not demeaning. Same goes for Danica Patrick -- who looks gorgeous in a head-to-toe race-car suit.

It's not degrading. And it certainly doesn't make anyone a bad role model. Did a few photos lessen Beard's athletic accomplishments in the pool?

Absolutely not.

Beard isn't a Playboy centerfold lookalike. It's her athletic accomplishments that help make an otherwise pretty girl-next-door ultra sexy.

Success is sexy, isn't it?

Beard works out three hours a day during the offseason and fivehours daily when training for the 2008 Olympics. Beard worked hard to get her body in that kind of shape.

Guys, isn't it more pleasing for you to look at Beard than celebrity toothpicks with clothes such as Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan?

Beard, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Patrick and Natalie Gulbis are the top names among an increasing number of female athletes who are strutting their stuff in fashionable ensembles on the red carpet or showing off for sexy calendars and photo shoots away from the court or field.

And it's just fine to admire them for their attractiveness and athleticism. I wonder how many men notice Gulbis' swing, but don't happen to notice that she's a tanned, toned, pretty athlete, too?

Haven't men been admiring women for ages? What's there to feel bad about? This is nothing new.

Think Beard wants you to feel guilty?

"Are you kidding?" Beard asked. "No, not at all. Just like women shouldn't feel guilty for looking at men. It's just the way the world works. I don't see a problem if a woman looks beautiful. Guys do the same thing with their six-pack abs.

"A sexy athlete is someone extremely confident with their body and not afraid to put themselves out there. They risk it. I find that extremely sexy."

Think anyone was too upset over David Beckham's seductive photos with wife Victoria in the August issue of W Magazine, in which the Galaxy star sported nothing but tighty-whities? I'll bet not.

Sharapova's six-page sultry swimsuit spread in Sports Illustrated last year didn't stain her then-No. 1 World Tennis Association ranking or character. Gulbis' annual swimsuit calendar -- which some might think is hotter now that she won a major -- is not a guilty pleasure.

Think you're the only one with one of the calendars? There must be a reason it's published every year.

Kerri Walsh, who partners with Misty May-Treanor as the star act on the AVP's pro beach volleyball circuit, is a bona fide sex object, even if she laughs at the idea. Walsh is 6-foot-2 and lanky. She might not look like a supermodel, but she and May-Treanor won an Olympic gold medal in 2004 and are absolutely dominant in their sport.

Again, success is sexy.

Some critics blast female athletes for posing in bikinis, yet Walsh goes to work in a bikini -- a tasteful one, she says -- every day. She has declined appearances in men's magazines, but she doesn't hold it against anyone who accepts them.

"I think it's a personal choice," Walsh said. "As female athletes, we're proud of what we do. We're proud of our bodies. We're empowered. If you want to walk that line and be sexy, that's your prerogative. If I posed in a men's magazine, I would be shot by my family. I've had opportunities to pose in Maxim and men's magazines, but I'm not a sexy girl. If I could pull it off, maybe, but I can't."

It's natural to notice attractive women. The NCAA Women's College World Series title game earned a 1.8rating -- the highest ever for a WCWS finale -- in June. I'm sure it didn't hurt that viewers found Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt attractive. She was fully clothed in a softball uniform, but she was powerful and dominant. That equals sexy, too. She won an ESPY award for Best Female Athlete.

Surveys and studies have proven attractive people tend to move farther up the ladder in the business world. People notice.

Just like the local radio personality who discussed Sharapova on the air while the East West Bank Classic was in town.

"She's good, and she's hot," the deejay said.

Yes, a female athlete can be both. Yes, we know you notice. And yes, it's OK.

As long as comments aren't crass or disrespectful, this is perfectly normal.

Jeanie Buss, the Lakers executive vice president of business operations, posed for Playboy in May 1995. She saw Beard's spread and thought she looked great.

In 1998, Buss had twobasketballs strategically placed over her breasts in a Sports Illustrated photo, and the accompanying article was entitled: "She's got balls."

It has been nearly a decade, but fans still come up to her with the SI picture seeking an autograph, and she obliges. She doesn't want them to feel bad about looking at it, so why should they?

"I am happy I did it," Buss said. "In regards to Playboy, I never regretted it. ... I got a lot of questions after that, like what's the next step in your career? People looked at it as a career move, but for me, when I was growing up, it was something I always wanted todo."

Buss' dad, Lakers owner JerryBuss, owned a Playboy club in Phoenix, and thus she was around the Playboy brand a lot. It was a dream of hers to be in the magazine.

She's still a savvy businesswoman. That didn't change with those photos, which she still has in her garage somewhere. She doesn't think her longtime boyfriend and Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, has seen the magazines, however.

Pundits say Beard shouldn't have posed in Playboy because she's a role model. But what kind of parent would allow their child to read Playboy? Or leave a copy lying around?

Daniela Hantuchova, the WTA's 10th-ranked player, did a spread for Vogue in which she was wearing a bikini top and short skirt.

"We all agree and always say we do the talking with our racquets," Hantuchova said. "We can take some time outside the sport to show people a different side of us. In that way, I think it's a good thing."

So you shouldn't feel like it's a bad thing.

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CAPTION(S):

16 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (volleyball player)

Manan Vatsyayana/Getty Images

(2) Pro volleyball player Logan Tom, pro swimmers Amanda Beard and Haley Cope and pro track stars Amy Acuff and Jenny Adams are featured on the cover of the September 2004 issue of FHM magazine that was titled the "Sexy Olympic special".

(3) Jane magazine, which is now defunct, released the annual body issue in July, which features Serena Williams.

(4 -- color) no caption (spectator)

(5 -- 16) no caption (A TIMELINE OF ATHLETES LETTING THEIR GUARD (AND CLOTHES) DOWN)

Box:

A TIMELINE OF ATHLETES LETTING THEIR GUARD (AND CLOTHES) DOWN