If the topless photos of Lebanese skier Jackie Chamoun created an uproar in her country, the video of the photo shoot which contains more explicit images of the 22-year-old athlete is certain to raise more hackles among her conservative countrymen.

YouTube/Beiruting.com

That is because in the 1-minute, 36-second video of the photo shoot, there are images of the beautiful athlete wearing nothing except a tiny T-back and there are glimpses of her ample breasts toward the end of the video. In the photos used for an Austrian calendar, her breasts were covered by her arms or ski.

The sports calendar published in January did not use those risqué images of Chamoun who is competing in the ongoing Sochi Winter Games in Russia. The photos were shot by fellow Olympic skier from Mexico, Hubertus Von Hohenloe on the slopes of Faraya in Lebanon.

Despite Lebanon being one of the most liberal countries in the Middle East, some conservative groups were scandalised by Jackie's calendar photos, prompting the Lebanese media to push for an investigation if she should be allowed to represent Lebanon in the winter games.

To ensure the protection of the country's reputation, Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami asked Lebanon's Olympic committee to look into the photos.

But the Lebanese Olympic committee, in a statement, said that while they were not thrilled by the images, it would not cause the exclusion of Chamoun from the Sochi Games because the photo shoot was not done during preparations for the Games or during the Games, citing Olympic rules. However, the committee said the photos do not reflect the real image of Lebanese sports.

Chamoun said the photo shoot was done three years ago and has apologised through Facebook if the images offended some of her countrymen. She wrote, "I want to apologise to all of you, I know that Lebanon is a conservative country and this is not the image that reflects our culture. I fully understand if you want to criticise this."

Jackie is competing in alpine skiing and is one of two athletes who are representing Lebanon in Sochi.

But not all Lebanese are mad at Chamoun for disrobing. Some liberal countrymen defended her, saying she should not be ashamed and must take back her apology. It even triggered a campaign for Lebanese to take topless selfies and post them in Twitter to support Chamoun.

The incident supports the observation of sports analysts that lovely female athletes need to bare to raise sufficient funds for their Olympic training since they get lesser opportunities for endorsement deals compared to their male counterparts.

However, in so doing they are criticised for their behaviour, although that has not stopped other sportswomen from shedding their clothes in front of the camera.

YouTube/talkSPORTmagazine

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