Romanian gymnasts slammed for posing naked

Three former Romanian Olympic gymnasts were criticised by officials on Friday for posing naked in a Japanese magazine.

Romanian Gymnastics Federation President Nicolae Vieru said Corina Ungureanu, Lavinia Milosovici and Claudia Presecan had brought the sport into disrepute and "tarnished the country's image".

Milosovici, 26, won two golds at the 1992 Barcelona Games while 23-year-old Presecan won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Local sports newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor printed the pictures of the trio, which were downloaded from the internet, showing them wearing only lipstick and mascara.

Japanese news and entertainment magazine Shukan Gendai was reported by Sporturilor as having paid $120,000 for the pictures. The publication will hit the stands next week.

"It's regrettable that they (the gymnasts) did it only for money," Vieru told daily newspaper ProSport.

The trio dismissed the accusations as irrelevant and claimed the pictures had been "slightly" doctored.

They also denied media reports suggesting they had filmed scenes in an adult movie.

"It's our life...we are responsible for what we are doing. I've never been paid so much in my whole career," Presecan told reporters.

In 1999, Ungureanu caused a big stir after she posed naked for the Romanian edition of Playboy magazine.