Sharon Madderson, as we've seen previously on FMS, has been one of the shining lights of British female muscle over the last twenty years. She began her long and varied competitive career as an EFBB Figure competitor back in 1999, and eventually made it all the way to the IFBB pro ranks as a Bodybuilder. Now, however, she may have decided to call time on that career, her final appearance the recent WABBA International Universe, where she finished runner-up to Sarah Williams.
I've had an amazing experience, Sharon told her Instagram followers as she kissed her trophy after the Colchester show. This might be my retirement of competing but the start of a new journey. Notice the "might". Lots of Sharon fans have. Congratulations but please don't! begged one. You still have lot to give on stage...
FMS couldn't agree more. One forum poster recently said that they felt Sarah Williams was "actually getting better looking with age". The same could definitely be said of Sharon Madderson. And as images and video of her preparations for her maybe last contest have come to the attention of the forums recently, she's become as popular as ever - at the age of 51. With her conditioning and this new long blond hair, she's an absolute goddess! commented one, clearly smitten, new fan.
But just like Margie Martin, who recently announced next year (at least) she will be "making bodybuilders", Sharon's not about to stop training - "the lifestyle I adore" - but rather than compete, she'll focus on training other people with her husband (the man responsible for Sharon becoming a Bodybuilder) out of their North-east base. Graham and I already have so much planned for 2017, she says. We can't wait to share it all! We are so excited to see our Madderson Muscle Athlete Team grow internationally, and to be as successful in their journeys as our already amazing squad.
Sharon's career has, as we've noted before, been a little stop start, with periods out of competition punctuating her appearances on stage. Maybe this is the beginning of one of these breaks, maybe it really is retirement. If it is indeed the latter, and the Universe really was her last competitive outing, then Sharon certainly made sure she wouldn't be forgotten in a hurry, and certainly left this fan at least wishing for more.
The judges love Sarah. Well, some of them anyway. At the end of November the 2014 UKBFF British Physique champion Sarah Williams was crowned the 2016 WABBA International Ms Universe - and, as the above photo of the triumphant Sarah suggests, this time she was back where she began, in a Women's Bodybuilding class.
She hasn't always got so much love from the judges - her mighty muscles were a bit scary to judges of the IFBB variety at the Amateur Olympia UK last year and she finished down in 8th. But I reckon she's forgotten all about that now. Being announced as the [Universe] winner was a little overwhelming for me, she told her Instagram followers. That special moment when you realise all the sacrifice, hard work and dedication you put in has finally paid off. I tried hard to fight back the tears!
Sarah finishes 8th in the Physique class at the IFBB Amateur Olympia UK 2015 (left); WABBA British Grand Prix 2016 champion (middle), and WABBA International Ms Universe 2016
This was the seoond time this year that Sarah has had that feeling. In July she was crowned British champion (2nd time) in Women's Bodybuilding (1st time) at the WABBA British Grand Prix. Seems that while the UKBFF judges can be fickle, the WABBA judges know a quality female physique when they see one.
UKBFF British Physique champion 2014
Just like the fans do really. And while, yes, there are some dissenting voices regarding Sarah, they get shouted down pretty quick. We, the "collective we", love Sarah, and have done ever since she became widely known after her UKBFF British Physique triumph. She's awesome, noted one forum poster at the time the first few photos of Sarah went up on the boards. Pictures like these make me wonder why the entire male population isn't crazy about female bodybuilders! Me too, buddy. Me too.
The only problem female muscle heads had with Sarah was her apparent lack of social media - at the time she didn't have a mobile phone, let alone a Facebook page! However, unlike many IFBB judges, female muscle subscription websites know a great body when they see one, and Awefilms, Muscle Angels and Muscle Appeal were quick to track Sarah down, help her change into something revealing, and point a lens at her.
Sometimes the models you least expect become popular, says Jason Lynch of Muscle Appeal. I did not anticipate the popularity of Sarah Williams. To this day, every time I travel to bodybuilding shows and I meet some fans, they always tell me how much they like her. I try to work with her as much as I can because she is fun to be around. And because, like many FBB fans, I have a crush on her.
Me too, buddy. Me too.
Eight weeks out before the 2016 WABBA International Universe
Well, anyone who was at the NABBA England last weekend will agree that we saw two of the best British female physiques ever to come out of this great country of ours, Lisa Cross and Jeannie Ellam. It was a nail-biting competition, with Lisa's amazing genetic proportions and symmetry against the rock-hard, ultra-conditioned Jeannie, who had dieted for 21 weeks for this show, and looked incredible. In terms of muscle mass it was close, but Jeannie's glutes, hams, and calves were tighter and drier than Lisa's, as was her lower back, which was shredded! Ultimately Jeannie won the day, but there was only a point in it. What was nice to see was the mutual respect they had for each other on stage, true sportswomen of the future. MuscleTalk forum, 21/10/09
There's not many British female bodybuilders who have stood on stage next to Lisa Cross and come out the victor, but Jeannie Ellam is one. At the time of the 2009 NABBA England, it was Jeannie who had the greater contest experience, and, since her 2002 debut, had picked up a number of wins at local and regional UKBFF shows.
Later that year, at the NABBA Universe, Lisa was to finish runner-up again, this time to Brazil's Larissa Cunha, while Jeannie failed to place in the top 6. Now we all know what happened next for Lisa, but what about Jeannie? What did she do next?
Well before we answer that question, how about seeing what all the fuss was about? Here's Jeannie's routine from the UKBFF Leeds qualifier in 2008, just about a year before her "Clash of the Titans" with Lisa. Just listen to that crowd...
After leaving school Jeannie was in the RAF for seven years before qualifying as an aerobics instructor. Then, in 2002, she and her partner took over the Fitness Connection Gym in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire (and they run the gym - a stable that has produced many a male and female champion - to this day). After winning her first show in 2002 in the Trained Figure category, Jeannie says "I realised that heels weren't for me" and she turned to what was known as the Physique category, ie. Bodybuilding.
In 2004, just nine months after the birth of her first child - "I was training right up to the due date," she says - she competed and took 3rd place in a local contest. And from then on, her star just kept on rising. In 2006, 2008 and 2009 she won a trio of UKBFF North-East titles and was 3rd at the British finals in two of those years.
During this period though, Jeannie was becoming slightly miffed at the way female bodybuilding was being sidelined by the UK muscle media, writing to BEEF! magazine in 2007 to complain that the only reference they had made to the British championships that year had been a report on the Men's Bodybuilding category, while the women had been ignored. Two years later, increasingly frustrated at how the UKBFF were treating their female bodybuilders, she had switched over to NABBA.
Here she is in her last UKBFF show. Again, just listen to that crowd...
So, what did happen to Jeannie after 2009?
Another baby. And that meant a break from competition. She had plans, at the time, to return to the stage by 2012, but by then changes had happened within NABBA, and the Bodybuilding (known in NABBA as "Physique") category had all but disappeared.
So we next find Jeannie at the NABBA England in 2015, finishing runner-up to Jody Shuttleworth in the Trained Figure class, and qualifying for the NABBA Universe once again. A very different posing routine, and a very different look.
A bottom like that, and she didn't even place. At least she didn't have to wear heels!
But there is, thankfully, happier news. They say you can't keep a good woman down, and this year Jeannie has risen again to prove just that. So far she has avoided both the UKBFF and NABBA, and has enjoyed her most consistent success as a result.
Instead, Jeannie has been competing in WABBA shows, and victory at the Hercules Olympia (above, in heels, you will note, and to me she looks as though she's looking forward to getting them off) was followed by victory at the WABBA British Grand Prix.
In WABBA, Jeannie reckons, she has found her new home. If you want to be judged fairly on your body and nothing else, she says, then WABBA is the way forward. And after the British Grand Prix, she travelled to Verona, Italy for the Worlds, and came home the World Champion. She's 47. It's only taken the best part of 15 years!
One of the first to congratulate her on her (barely active) Facebook page was none other than Lisa Cross, acknowledging the woman who she says "has helped and supported me since the start of my career". But it was another of Jeannie's Facebook friends who perhaps best summed up the it's-about-time mood of collective rejoicing within the UK Bodybuilding scene. Finally Jeannie - judges with sense! So glad you've got the recognition you deserve for all your years of hard work.
It's the years of hard work that she's put into not only her own physique, but that of the many men and women she has trained so successfully during her career. They've been years of hard work that she's put in while simultaneously raising her children and running her business, and they've been years during which she has had not one, but two federations let her and so many of her British sisters of iron down.
