Hmmm, whatever happened to Jamie Sale, the girl-next-door Canadian pairs skater who was robbed in the Salt Lake Olympic judging scandal before having her gold medal restored?

Well, it turns out her career is following the usual path that women follow after they have struck fortune and fame. You know the routine: Endorsements, TV appearances, magazine covers.

Nude photos.

Jamie Sale, you say?! The girl who looks like she stepped out of an episode of the Waltons? The Breck girl?

Bingo, that's the one.

She posed for some men's magazine this month. Three pages of toplessness. All very "tasteful," of course.

Next stop: The tell-all book.

It's good to know she's making the most of the success and the outpouring of sympathy and support she received in Salt Lake City.

This is the modern way. Female athletes and for that matter other female celebs — talk out both sides of their faces about not wanting to be viewed as sex symbols and wanting to win respect with their talent and brains, but at some point they use other parts of their anatomy, as well.

Essentially, they are saying, "Hey, I have a brain and check out these goodies, baby!"

Suzy Hamilton, the Olympic miler, produced a skin-deep calendar.

So did "The Girls of Track and Field," featuring, among others, high jumper Amy Acuff.

Volleyball player Gabrielle Reece and Anna Kournikova have done a number of racy photo shoots. Steffi Graf posed for a magazine swimsuit issue. Tatiana Grigorieva, a Russian Olympic pole vaulter, posed nude.

Katarina Witt posed nude. So did the Australian Olympic soccer team and Russian figure skater Maria Butyrskaya and Romanian gymnast Corina Ungureanu and soccer player Brandi Chastain and the New Zealand rowing team and Australian basketball players Rachael Sporn and Trisha Fallon and Australian sprinter Tania Van Heer. (Lisa Guerrero, who makes pointless commentary on the sideline for Monday Night Football, posed in lingerie.)

This is to say nothing of the non-sports category of women capitalizing on their 15 minutes of fame (Darva Conger, The Girls of Clinton, the Women of Survivors, etc.).

Sale says she was convinced the pictures would be "tasteful," blah, blah, blah. Where have we heard this before? Well, everywhere, that's all.

In any story about a female celeb removing her clothes for a magazine, she will offer one or all of the following reasons she agreed to it: (1) "It was tasteful/artistic/both." To wit, listen to Witt: "It turned out basically the way I saw it, which was very pure, very natural, athletic and tasteful." This is just a rule of thumb, but generally speaking, if you take your clothes off in public, it's not "tasteful."

(2) "I've worked hard to get this body" (translation: So I'm putting it out there on the showroom floor, honey). I've worked hard on my body," said Hamilton, "and I'm not afraid to show it." Thank you, Suzy!

(3) "My mother says it's great. My father thinks it's great" (no he doesn't; what are you, a moron?).

(4) "I did it to bring attention to our sport." Oh, really? And what kind of attention is that? If you want that kind of attention, sign up for a burlesque show.

(5) "I don't see what the big deal is." Somebody please give last rites to the truth. The reason they take off their clothes is for publicity and/or money (Clinton gal pal Paula Jones at least got points for originality by saying she did it to pay her taxes and help her sons — Thanks, mom!)

"I consider myself a wholesome girl," said Sale, "and I don't want to come across as I'll get naked for anybody.'

No sirree — just a stranger with a camera and millions of male readers she's never met.

Sale says she didn't want to do anything "sleazy." You mean like stripping for millions of strangers?

"Guys should know that figure skating is sexy," Sale tells the magazine.

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And your point is? Oh, please, somebody save her from herself and make her stop talking.

"She looks awesome, and Jamie said the shoot was respectful not sleazy at all," said her mother Patti.

That's because it was so tasteful.


E-MAIL: drob@desnews.com

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