Chicago's Aja Evans put it all on the line in Sochi to take home a bobsledding bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Months later, she's baring it all again for her sport, this time in ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue.
The 6th annual issue, on newsstands July 11, features 22 athletes posing nude, from Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps to Wimbledon champ Venus Williams, in an effort to celebrate the athletic form.
Evans is pictured pushing a bobsled naked and photographed during her session in strategic poses with a bobsledding helmet.
She told the magazine people always compliment her on her legs, a sometimes-creepy, other-times-acceptable form of flattery.
"There were times when I thought, 'Oh, I look too muscular,'" she said in her interview. "And after a while I just got tired of it because I was hurting myself more than anybody else. When you learn to embrace it and accept it, then you become invincible."
Evans started her career as a track star, but the shift to bobsledding began in 2012. After training at Highland Park's EFT Sports Performance and earning a high score at the 2012 Team Official Combine, Evans hopped on the fast track to success.
She earned silver in the 2013 World Cup in Sochi last February and was named to the 2014 Olympic bobsled team.
This February, Evans and Jamie Greubel finished with a time of 3:51.61 to grab bronze. Fellow Americans Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams took silver, marking the first time two U.S. sleds have medaled in women's bobsledding.
A big influence in Evans' athletic career is her brother and Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle, Fred Evans. She does all of her off-season training with Fred and other NFL stars such as Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte.
Evans told NBC 5 before heading to Sochi that training with them is crucial to her development because they push her like no one else would.
"They go in there and grind it out, but it's still an enjoyable environment," she said. "There's no excuses when you train with them."
