Women's pro volleyball player and model GABRIELLE REECE
was profiled by ABC Sports' Robin Roberts on ABC's
"Primetime Live" last night. Reece has an endorsement deal
with Nike, a book coming out entitled "Big Girl in the
Middle" and this fall will begin writing a column for the
new magazine Conde Nast Sports for Women. Roberts: "From
the beginning there was a clash of images, the tug of war
between glamour girl and gladiator, the theme in Gabrielle
Reece's first commercial for Nike." Reece: "When I first
signed my deal there were some people within Nike that I
think were concerned with my image, like maybe I was too
feminine or too sexy ... and that somehow I was not an
authentic athlete. And that -- that's really been a fight
because I think part of the reason they signed me was
because of the image." Roberts: "She says she no longer
does fashion shoots, but this team captain cannot seem to
shake her glamorous past. ... When the model became an
athlete her formidable face gave her an edge." Reece, asked
if she's experienced jealousy on the women's volleyball tour
because of her commercial success: "I think in the beginning
when I was younger and I was a rookie, or the first few
years it was hard" ("Primetime Live," ABC, 7/23).
