Scantily clad girls with guns. There's no more surefire winner to promote a sport struggling to grab airtime and attention. For a hint on tactics that work, look no further than beach volleyball. Australian shooter Lauryn Mark recently made headlines by appearing in a bikini toting a gun on the front cover of an Australian magazine Zoo -- and says she did it as a way to promote her sport. And she's not the only one. Beate Gauss, 27, who took part in the 10m air rifle event at the London Olympics, recently appeared topless on the front cover of Playboy in Germany along with other Olympians.

US-born Mark says all publicity is good publicity for shooting, where normally crowds are paltry compared with the packed galleries at the Olympics. "I understand that doing a photospread like I did for Zoo could probably be seen as controversial but I believe it does help the sport get a good image," said the 32-year-old, who competed in women's skeet.