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French Swimmer Laure Manaudou May Retire After Slow Times, Sex Scandal

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, French swimmer Laure Manaudou appeared poised to be one of the all-time greats in her sport. At just 17 years old she won the gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle, the silver in the 800 freestyle and the bronze in the 100 backstroke, and 2008 was supposed to be a much bigger year.

It hasn't worked out that way. Over the last year Manaudou has been plagued by what was referred to as a "sex scandal," although it doesn't really strike me as something that the French would consider scandalous: Explicit photos of her surfaced, and the photos were apparently connected to Italian swimmer Luca Marin.

Attractive Olympian: Scandal-Plagued Swimmer Laure Manaudou

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Laure Manaudou is a world record-holder and Olympic champion, but it's the fallout from her love life that has garnered the biggest headlines.

France's first gold medalist in swimming in over 50 years found herself in the middle of a media firestorm when sexually explicit photos of her surfaced online after a public break-up with Italian swimmer Luca Marin at the 2007 Euro Championships. Before that fallout, Manaudou had raised the ire of French officials when she left her swimming club to join Marin in Italy.

Laure Manaudou

French swimmer Laure Manaudou competes during the women's 200m backstroke final at the Scottish National Open Swimming Championship in Glasgow on June 27, 2008. Manaudou took second place. AFP PHOTO/BRIAN STEWART (Photo credit should read BRIAN STEWART/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

French swimmer Laure Manaudou competes during the womens 200m backstroke final at the Scottish National Open Swimming Championship in Glasgow on June 27, 2008. Manaudou took second place. AFP PHOTO/BRIAN STEWART (Photo credit should read BRIAN STEWART/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

French swimmer Laure Manaudou poses with her silver medal for the womens 200m backstroke final at the Scottish National Open Swimming Championship in Glasgow on June 27, 2008. AFP PHOTO/BRIAN STEWART (Photo credit should read BRIAN STEWART/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

French swimmer Laure Manaudou is pictured during the Scottish National Open Swimming Championship, in Glasgow, Scotland, on June 27, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Brian Stewart (Photo credit should read BRIAN STEWART/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

French swimmer Laure Manaudou competes in the women's 200m backstroke at the Scottish National Open Swimming Championship, in Glasgow, Scotland, on June 27, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Brian Stewart (Photo credit should read BRIAN STEWART/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

France's Laure Manaudou prepares before to swim in the 400 meters freestyle event at the Paris Open Swimming competition in preview of Beijing Olympics in Paris June 19, 2008. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol (FRANCE) (BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 PREVIEW)

Reuters

Manaudou, now back in her home country with a new French boyfriend (swimmer Benjamin Stasiulis), looks to put this mess behind her with a strong performance in Beijing; three more medals will make her the most decorated French Olympian in history.

But amidst all this love and scandal and swimming, is Manaudou worth this kind of fuss? We at FanHouse steer clear of explicit content, but there's plenty more Manaudou after the jump to help you decide.