Sports

GRETCHEN BLEILER: Meet The Only ESPN Cover Model You've Never Heard Of

Tony Manfred
2011-10-07T16:48:00Z
Read in app
gretchen bleiler modeling
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/nggallery/page-1148/images/

The cover models for this year's ESPN The Magazine Body Issue: MLB star Jose Reyes, NBA star Blake Griffin, celebri-athlete Hope Solo, and ... Gretchen Bleiler?

Advertisement

Bleiler has been on the margins of the sporting scene since winning a silver medal in women's snowboarding half-pipe at the 2006 Olympics.

But who is she? And how did she land on the cover of he Body Issue alongside such household names?

Advertisement

Bleiler was born in the not-so-snowboardy town of Toledo, Ohio. Her love of the slopes developed after she moved to Aspen when she was 10

gretchen bleiler aspen
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/nggallery/page-1148/images/

At her private school, students were allowed to leave early every Wednesday so they could go ski. Must be nice

gretchen bleiler snowboarding
YouTube
Advertisement

When she graduated high school in 1999, she skipped college so she could travel and train for the 2002 Olympics

gretchen bleiler biography
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/pictures/

She missed qualifying for the Olympic team in 2002. But her career had taken off nonetheless. She posed in just body paint on a 2004 cover of FHM

gretchen bleiler on the cover of FHN magazine
http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1000021182/uncategorized/fhm-cover-girls-bleiler-and-dakides/?pid=13094#ngtop
Advertisement

Her athletic career was coming on strong too, she came back and won a silver medal in the halfpipe in the 2006 Olympics

gretchen bleiler 2006 olympics
AP

After winning silver, the endorsements and modeling gigs started pouring in

gretchen bleiler biography
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/pictures/
Advertisement

She got a spread in Maxim

gretchen bleiler on maxim
http://www.maxim.com/amg/girls/todays-girl/77673/gretchen-bleiler.html

She now has a deal with Oakley

gretchen bleiler biography
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/pictures/
Advertisement

And Old Spice

gretchen bleiler biography
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/pictures/

And a ton of bigtime corporations

gretchen bleiler sponsors
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/sponsors/
Advertisement

She also got to go to the White House after striking Olympic silver

gretchen bleiler biography
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/pictures/

Back on the slopes, she kept up her awesome record in the half-pipe. She won gold at the 2008 X Games

gretchen bleiler 2009 x games
YouTube
Advertisement

The X Games even used her in an owl-theme commercial

gretchen bleiler x games commercial
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/x-games-15-commercial/

She returned to the Olympics in 2010. She didn't win anything, but Al Roker was still interested

gretchen bleiler today show
AP
Advertisement

She's parlayed her moderate fame into advocacy. Earlier this year she appeared in a PSA about not using plastic bags

gretchen bleiler recycling psa
http://www.gretchenbleiler.com/earth-day-edition-21-day-reusable-challenge/

This summer, ESPN came calling. They wanted to put her on the cover of the Body Issue

gretchen bleiler body issue
ESPN.com Video
Advertisement

And just like that, she's the model on the cover of one of the most popular sports magazines of the year

gretchen body issue cover

Way more people will know her name when the issue hits newsstands today

gretchen bleiler red carpet
Wikimedia Commons
Advertisement

Now check out how the Body Issue gets made

chris blake

What Happens When Your Favorite Athletes Strip Down For ESPN >>

Read next

ESPN
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.