A St. Patrick's Day special here at FMS today, featuring the Republic of Ireland's most successful female bodybuilder ever, the very gorgeous Sophia McNamara.
Her mother, Angela McNamara, was a 1980s Irish female muscle pioneer, and it was her trainer who urged Sophia to compete. In 2009, after she'd been training for just three months, she stepped on stage for the first time. I found my first competition very embarrassing and nerve-wracking but yet it was exciting, she recalls.
She must find it exciting. If nothing else, Sophia McNamara has competed a lot. FMS has managed to find four more competitions she took part in that year, ranging from a regional competition in the south of Ireland to representing her country in the mixed pairs class at European level. In 2010, four more competitions, including her first RIBBF National title and her first experience of competition at world level. In 2011 and 2012 she won her second and third consecutive Irish titles, and competed at world level again. Busy busy busy! Perhaps she became less nervous the more she competed? I have a drink back stage for nerves, she explains.
However, Sophia threatened to retire from competition in 2012, sounding slightly disillusioned with the sport and the sponsorship opportunities available in her native country: I’m the most successful female bodybuilder ever to come out of Ireland, and the more you achieve the less people want to know. But thankfully, she found she couldn't stay away, although she did switch federations to the only place to do it out of pure love for the sport, NABBA. And of course she proved that whatever the event, she's the best in the Emerald Isle, becoming NABBA Miss Ireland 2013 (Trained Figure class) and also representing her country at last year's NABBA Universe.
Exposure on Irish TV has, naturally, led to her being the target of some negative comments. I can understand some women think I've too much muscle for a woman, Sophia says, but she has little time for those (women) who openly criticise her look. To call an attractive glamorous woman mannish is jealousy. People forget I look this way because I, myself, designed my body and frankly I love it.
FMS hopes we'll see more of Sophia in 2014, but meanwhile, there's plenty more of her out there. Her Facebook page is out of commission at the moment, but there's a fair few images of Sophia (not necessarily wearing green) here. She was one of the subjects of a "Modern Ireland" documentary, Supersized Shes, which you can watch in full, and there's also plenty of Sophia on the excellent Irish Muscle website, including her on stage at the 2013 NABBA Ireland, and an interview with her after her win. And if that's not enough, you can also see Sophia representing Ireland (in green, naturally) and finishing 4th in a quality field at the 2013 NABBA Universe here.
May her Irish eyes keep smiling...
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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