'I was told I was "too fat" to be seen with': Olympian who posed naked for ESPN's Body Issue reveals how she overcame cruel bullies who tormented her about her weight
- The 25-year-old Team USA athlete, who lives in Texas, is one of the cover stars of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue
- Amanda weighed 207lbs on the day of her ESPN photoshoot but asked for her weight to be rounded up to 210lbs in the interview
Posing nude takes a certain level of confidence, and while Team USA Track & Field hammer thrower Amanda Bingson proudly shed her clothes and showed off her powerful 210lb figure as one of the cover stars of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue, the athlete admits that she hasn’t always been as confident about her body.
The 25-year-old, who lives in Texas, empowered women around the country with the beautiful images of her throwing hammers in the buff, shattering the stereotype that athletes need to be a certain shape or size. But in a recent interview with Cosmopolitan.com, Amanda opened up about the cruel jibes and hateful comments she has faced in relation to her weight, revealing that she was once told that she was ‘too fat’ to be seen with.
'I was always the big girl on campus,' she said. ‘My heritage is Filipino and German, and so we naturally have a bigger frame, so I'd always been bigger.
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Powerful pose: USA Track & Field hammer thrower Amanda Bingson shed her clothes as one of the cover stars of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue (pictured)
In her interview with ESPN The Magazine, Amanda recalled first learning the word 'fat' when she was in middle school, and when speaking with Cosmopolitan.com she elaborated on that defining moment.
'I never realized I was bigger than anybody because back when I was growing up, we didn't have social media like we have now,' she explained. 'But once I got into middle school, I had asked a boy if he wanted to go to the movies with me and a whole bunch of my friends. He was like: "No, you guys are too fat, I would never be seen with you."'
Dealing with such cruelty has an adolescent has the potential to destroy a young adults confidence, but becoming an athlete helped Amanda embrace her powerful frame.
Beautiful confidence: The 25-year-old athlete, who lives in Texas, was photographed by Peter Hapak during the empowering photoshoot
Staying focused: Amanda noted that throwing nude was difficult because of 'moving parts'. She explained: 'I had boobs going every which way
Amanda, who grew up in Las Vegas, said that when she started doing physical activities, she was the 'girl everyone was afraid of'. However, she took their fears in stride, noting: 'I was like: "Yeah, get out of my way, I'm better than you!"
'People are scared of big things, but I used it, because I think my parents raised me right. All the friends I surround myself with, they like you for who you are rather than what you look like.'
Amanda, who said she is 5'6" 'on a good day' weighed 207lbs on the day of her ESPN photoshoot but asked for her weight to be rounded up to 210lbs in the interview.
Shocking moment: Amanda, who is pictured competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games, said that when she was in middle school a boy told her she was too fat
Getting glam: The athlete wore a figure-hugging black dress to the Gold Meets Golden event celebrating the 2015 Special Olympic Games in February
At the shoot, Peter Hapak photographed her as she threw hammers in the nude. Amanda explained that nakedness was always thrown in her face when she was growing up in Las Vegas, so she had always been 'relatively confident' when it came to her body.
However, Amanda noted throwing naked was harder than she thought it would because there were a lot of 'moving parts during the throw'.
'I had boobs going every which way,' she explained.
Amanda was asked during the shoot if she wanted to look at the pictures, but she turned down the opportunity to get a sneak peak and weigh in on her favorite images.
Defying expectations: Amanda posed next to the scoreboard in 2013 after she set a new American record in the Women's Hammer Throw at the USA Track and Field National Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa
Baby weight: Amanda was snapped doing lunges while holding an adorable toddler named Miley
'I told them I'd rather not, because I don't want to look at the pictures and think, "Oh no, my body doesn't look good this way, I have this roll going this way, you can see my cellulite here."'
She added: 'I didn't want to worry about it. I just wanted to do it. It turned out way better than I could have ever imagined.'
Amanda, who was once kicked off the volleyball team in high school because she was 'too fat', wants young women to know that there are many different sports and 'so many opportunities who aren't a size 2, or even a size 10'.
However, she noted that it is really important to 'find something you're good at be successful at it' - whether it is sports or not.
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