Friday, January 13, 2012

Half-Remembered Beach Photo: A Request

Gentle readers, I would like to ask your assistance.  I am trying to locate a photo that's etched in my mind (perhaps accurately, perhaps fuzzily, after all these years).

It is of a European female athlete, I believe, from the early 1980s, running on the beach.

The woman has long, flowing blonde hair, is wearing a bathing suit (I think), and has extraordinarily powerful legs. 

The picture was iconic for its day (I'm pretty sure I saw it in Vogue or some similar magazine), but my searches are coming up empty.

Does anyone remember her name or the image? (It is not a Rachel Williams photo.)

6 comments:

K.Line said...

I remember the photo but I couldn't tell you who it was. I have no memory of a face. Just legs.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm..was it Martina Navratilova in Vanity Fair?

Miss Cavendish said...

Don't think so; I didn't read VF till the late 80s, if I remember correctly. This woman had long flowing blonde hair, though I don't think that her sport was running. I'll look up the MN image, though, to confirm!

Anonymous said...

Complete guess - Gabrielle Reese (Reece?) who played Olympic beach volleyball..the hair and legs would be right. I think she was also a model.

Christine (another Canadian)

Miss Cavendish said...

Mr C suggested Gabby too, but this photo was waaay before her day. It's driving me crazy. I think the athlete was petite (just over 5 feet, maybe) and she had the most extraordinarily strong and gorgeous thighs. Sigh . . .

Anonymous said...

I spend a fair amount of time in used book stores. I believe I've seen the image you describe on the cover of a vintage women's fitness book, maybe from the 1980s? The title could have been, "Thunder Thighs." I can find neither the book nor the image online, though.