Amanda Beard has posed in the SI swimsuit issue. She's also been featured in an FHM photo layout. And now the three-time Olympian is crossing that blurry line that female athletes so often seem to have to contend with.

She's appearing in Playboy.

Beard's decision will undoubtedly kick start yet another debate over whether these types of photo shoots help or hurt women's athletics. But Michael Rosenberg argues it doesn't hurt female athletes as much as it reveals how society sees them -- as famous women first and as athletes a distant second.

What do you think?

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