ESPN The Magazine Reveals List Of Athlete For Body Issue

It's that time of year, when the powers-that-be at ESPN The Magazine reveal the "body beautiful" athletes who will grace the July "Body Issue" in their birthday suit.  The final cut of sports figures will include Rob Gronkowski, Maurice Jones-Drew, Tyson Chandler and Abby Wambach are among others .  Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, New York Rangers forward Brad Richards and WNBA star Candace Parker will also appear in the July 13 edition.   With the London Games this summer, the list announced Wednesday is loaded with Olympians, including gymnast Danell Leyva, sprinter Carmelita Jeter, decathlete Ashton Eaton and members of the U.S. women's volleyball team. The magazine's editor in chief, Chad Millman, says they try to pick athletes who "just recently popped." Gronkowski is a classic example of that, the New England Patriots tight end emerged as one of the NFL's biggest offensive stars this past season - and it doesn't hurt that he has a penchant for appearing shirtless in photos and the magazine had a commitment from him way back last fall. 

Athletes featured in previous years have included Blake Griffin, Hope Solo and Jose Reyes.

Gatlin And Gay Gear For A Meeting With Usain Bolt

Knowing oh too well about the history of the rivalry between Jamaican track and field team and the TeamUSA, the thought about the Men's 100m and 200m finals brings with it a certain adrenaline rush.  Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay Monday qualified for the London Olympics with sub-9.90 second times at the US trials.  2004 Olympic champion, Gatlin, clocked 9.80 in the 100m ahead of Gay, who finished in 9.86. They are both waiting to profit from a Jamaican Usain Bolt slip up.

But with recent news out of Usian Bolt's camp, Bolt is not planning on slipping up not one bit, even breaking bad habits of getting more sleep.  The US team's third sprinter will be Ryan Bailey, whose time of 9.93 was one hundredth of a second ahead of Michael Rodgers.  The first five to finish all dipped under 10 seconds, with Darvis Patton finishing in 9.96.  It will be Gatlin's first Olympics since Athens, having missed the 2008 Beijing games due to a doping ban. 

"I have a lot left in the tank. This season so far has been undefeated and I'm just trying to ride that wave," said Gatlin.

Dwain Chambers won the Aviva 2012 UK trials on Saturday, but his time of 10.25 was seven hundredths of a second outside the 'A' qualification time he required. The final place in the women's 100m US team will be decided by either a run-off or the toss of a coin after Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for third place.

With no tie-break procedure included in their regulations, USA Track and Field announced that both athletes will be given the choice of their preferred method. World champion, Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison took the first two places.LaShawn Merritt recorded the fastest time in the world this year to win the men's 400m. The 2008 Olympic champion, also returning from a doping ban, finished in 44.86 ahead of Tony McQuay and Bryshon Nellum , who both recorded personal bests to complete the US trio in the event. In the women's event, Sanya Richards-Ross also recorded a world-best for 2012 so far with a time of 49.28 to finish comfortably ahead of DeeDee Trotter and Francena McCorory.