Amada Beard appears in the July issue of Playboy. Courtesy Playboy

Last week SI writer Richard Deitsch interviewed swimmer Amanda Beard for the magazine's Q&A. The Olympic gold medalist -- and SI Swimsuit model -- is on the cover of the July issue of Playboy. Here are additional excerpts from their conversation:

SI: Do you consider yourself sexy?

Beard: No, not at all.

SI: How is that possible?

Beard: You should see me when I wake up for morning workouts. I don't feel sexy at all.

SI: Are you happy with the photos?

Beard: I love the photographs. I'm really excited for everyone to see them.

SI: How many pages do you appear in?

Beard: The pictorial is eight pages and there are eight nude photos.

SI: Is there a swimming theme?

Beard: There are a lot of themes, but there's a definitely water involved.

SI: Is being naked easy for you?

Beard: I think I'm a lot more comfortable being naked because my work attire is little swimming suits. You get used to not being covered very much. I'm more comfortable with a lot of skin showing than most people.

SI: How have people reacted to your decision to pose?

Beard: So far I feel like it's been a lot more positive than negative, and I'm excited about that. People are always surprised when I tell them that I get a lot of nice compliments from women. They approach me all the time and say that they look up to me and that it's really great to have an athletic, healthy body for people to look at.

SI: Have you ever autographed a naked picture of yourself?

Beard: (Laughs). I was thinking about that other day. Do I open the magazine? Do I sign the outside? How is that going to work? I have no idea what it is going to be like but I always sign on my stomach. That's my area to sign.

SI: Why the stomach?

Beard: There's a lot of space between the top and bottom.

SI: Did you buy yourself something with the money you earned from Playboy?

Beard: Yes, I did. A Ducati Monster. It's a motorcycle, a nice Italian bike. It's absolutely perfect for me being a beginning rider.

SI: If you were Hugh Hefner, what other athletes would you want to pose for Playboy?

Beard: Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova and Danica Patrick. Anna is gorgeous. And Danica is a bad-ass chick. She has a lot of male fans, so she would be perfect.