Lebanese Olympic Skier Jackie Chamoun Apologizes for Topless Photo Shoot

A Lebanese skier’s steamy photos are getting a cold reception back home, and now Jackie Chamoun is having to explain – and say sorry.

Chamoun, 22, posed topless three years ago for a calendar that features scantily clad Olympians (the 2012 version had American Julia Mancuso on the cover), and images and videos of the shoot have gone viral during this week’s Sochi Games.

The media in the Arab country has cried scandal and the caretaker sports minister called for an investigation “to take the required steps to avoid harming Lebanon’s reputation.”

A contrite Chamoun explained on Facebook that these were behind-the-scenes images and the material “wasn’t supposed to go public.”

“Anyways, I want to apologize to all of you,” she writes. “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.”

“Now that I’m at the Olympic Games, these photos that I never saw before are being shared,” she continues. “It is sad. All I can ask to each of you who saw this, is to stop spreading it, it will really help me focusing on what is really important now: my trainings and race.”

Source: People