Sports Illustrated: Swim Suit Edition

The 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover was revealed Monday, February 14 on The Late Show with David Letterman and on a billboard in Times Square in New York City.

On the show, Letterman used the moment for his “Top 10” list of “Top 10 Good Things About Appearing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.” The list included the cover model, Irina Shayk’s Number 6: “When police officer ask me for ID, I say, ‘Check Page 47.’

Other funny Top 10  lines included Julie Henderson’s line, “Appearing on popular television shows … and this one,” and Alyssa Miller’s line, “On tax form under occupation, I can write ‘Hot.’ ”

The 2011 Swim Suit Edition features cover model Irina Shayk, the first Russian model to grace the cover. The 25-year-old model found out she was the cover model on the show, a tradition that left last year’s cover girl, Brooklyn Decker, knows about first hand.

This morning Shayk appeared on the Today Show, explaining her background. She grew up in a very small town in Russia — a town that might have just expanded their tourism industry. Let’s just say if small Russian towns have this much to offer talent agents may have to don their heavy winter coats and brave the elements to find hidden gems like her.

Here’s a link to all the SI photos if you want to take a more “in depth” look.

Photo from SI Swimsuit Facebook Page