Ms Olympia 2014: The Line-up

It's September. Time for the BIG show. This Friday, the 35th Ms Olympia takes place in Las Vegas. Your appetite probably doesn't need much whetting, but for the last two years FMS has previewed what remains (for now anyway) the premier female bodybuilding event of the year with some sort of week-long countdown. In 2012 it was a celebration of every previous Ms Olympia winner, and last year we compiled profiles of the 2013 competitors for your (and our) viewing pleasure.

We've decided to count down to 2014's prime female muscle meat exhibition with a bit of both - some history AND a preview of this year's line-up (with particular focus on three of the women who will be making their Olympia debuts on Friday).

And MORE besides!

Today, it's the line-up.

Those of you who keep an eye on such things will have noticed that among the automatic qualifiers a certain Brigita Brezovac is listed, as a result of her 5th place finish at last year's Ms O, after which she announced her retirement from competition. Now I'm sure we would all be absolutely delighted if Brigita made a surprise comeback on Friday, but judging by her latest Instagram offerings, great as she looks in her beloved pink, she hardly looks like she's preparing for a bodybuilding contest.



Point is, if I know she's retired then you probably know too, and so would anybody else who cares to or NEEDS to know - the organisers of the Ms Olympia, for example.

Why is this important? you might ask. Well, instead of having one less competitor on the stage, the woman with the next highest number of points from her finishes at this year's IFBB pro shows could have taken Brigita's place. Or, the automatic qualification place could have been given to the next highest-placed finisher at last year's Ms Olympia. The former alternative would, I reckon, have given us the pleasure of seeing Mmmmonique Jones this Friday; the latter, Juanita Blaino.



I don't know whether Mmmmonique or Juanita feel like they've been cheated out of a place at the Olympia, but I feel I'm being cheated of the opportunity to see at least one of two of the best FBBs in the world take their place alongside the rest of the elite.

Here endeth the rant.

The last thing I want to do is spend the week moaning about the shortcomings of the IFBB and its minions re: female bodybuilding (God knows I'd need more than a week for that). This week is a celebration, so, let the celebrations commence...

YOUR 2014 Ms OLYMPIA LINE-UP

(all 13 when it should be 14 of them!)

RITA BELLO

Argentina, Winner Chicago Pro 2014

SHEILA BLECK

USA, Winner Tampa Pro 2014

CHRISTINE ENVALL

Australia, 3rd Omaha Pro 2014 & Chicago Pro 2014

ANNE FREITAS

Brazil, Winner Omaha Pro 2014

LISA GIESBRECHT

Canada, Runner-up Chicago Pro 2014

MARGIE MARTIN

USA, Runner-up Omaha Pro 2014

SIMONE OLIVEIRA

Brazil, Winner Toronto Pro 2014

YAXENI ORIQUEN

Venezuela, 4th Ms Olympia 2013

JENNIFER SEDIA

USA, Runner-up Tampa Pro 2014

ALANA SHIPP

USA, Runner-up Toronto Pro 2014

DEBI LASZEWSKI

USA, 3rd Ms Olympia 2013

ALINA POPA

Switzerland, Runner-up Ms Olympia 2013

IRIS KYLE

USA, Winner Ms Olympia 2013

Now if that doesn't get you excited about the impending festival of prime female muscle meat that is the Ms Olympia 2014, I don't think anything will.

I just wish there were 14 of them...

한국인 of the Day: Yeon Woo Ji

She is probably the sole woman featured this week who needs absolutely no introduction whatsoever to any of you lovely readers. Yeon Woo Ji cemented her place as the first Korean female muscle superstar last year with her Overall Physique victory at the Arnold Classic Europe and, of course, with her appearance at #26 in the FMS Hot and Hard 100, the only Korean and, behind Penpraghai Tiangngok, the second highest-placed Asian-born hot and hard woman on the list.



Seriously though, her rise into the IFBB pro ranks before she had turned 30, like her rise in notoriety and popularity among fans from all over the world, is, of course, mainly due to the winning package of muscularity and femininity she is able to bring to the stage - and methinks the stunning exotic beauty doesn't hurt either. But me also thinks Yeon Woo Ji's somewhat unusual (for a Korean, anyway) competitive history has also played its part in enabling her to be the first Korean woman to hit the kind of international heights that her compatriot sisters of iron have failed to reach.



The man who has to take most of the credit for transforming Yeon Woo Ji from skinny to international female muscle star is also responsible for the ring on her finger. Jong Sup Won, a bodybuilder himself, introduced her to the sport, first became her trainer, and later became her husband. And it was, I believe, his decision to compete in the USA that resulted in his wife following him as supporter and competitor, and led directly to her gaining greater exposure to the international brethren.



Her competitive career (as far as I know) began, conventionally enough, as a figure athlete and bodybuilder in Korea. But not for her the typical progression from Korean champ (which she has never been) to the IFBB Asian and then, perhaps, World Championships made by Mi Hee Yu or Lee Hyeon Joo (to name but two examples). Instead, as noted above, Yeon Woo Ji went to California with her husband in 2011.



At the 2011 NPC California State Championships she competed in Figure. Although she didn't place in that show, the wheels had been set in motion. She returned to California to compete at the Memorial Day Muscle Beach Event later in the year, won her class (OK, she was the only one in it) AND the Overall Figure title. Then, in December 2011 she was back in California again and finishing 2nd, as a bodybuilder this time, at the NPC Excalibur. By then, she had come to the attention of more than one high profile female muscle website, and suddenly she was all over the fansites.




Back in Korea in 2012 Yeon Woo Ji finished just 3rd in the national championships, but also - if the prevalance of clips out there of her appearing on Korean (and Chinese) TV is anything to go by - gained a measure of mainstream media exposure. More importantly for what followed, though, she also made the fateful decision to focus her efforts on Physique (hubby probably had something to do with that too!).



Which brings us to her triumph in Madrid last year. At the time (see Contest of the Day, November 2013) FMS reported that though we found her to be looking "sensational" in photos of the event, footage of her posing had left us a little "underwhelmed". Having revisited both in the course of putting this post together, I stand by that appraisal. I'm not saying that she didn't look as sexy as hell during her free posing routine - a dazzling vision of feminine muscularity - just that she didn't MOVE quite as sexily as hell as she had done in my imagination when I saw the contest photos. Thus, underwhelming.




But my own ignorant opinion shouldn't in any way detract from what was an undeniably incredible achievement. In winning the Arnold Europe, not only did Yeon Woo Ji become the first Korean IFBB Physique Pro, but she also entered the history books as the first Asian to win such a high profile international title.



So, what's the next move for the trailblazing Yeon Woo Ji?

Whatever it is, the female muscle fan world will be watching...



You can watch Yeon Woo Ji's Arnold Europe routine on You Tube thanks to videosmusculares, follow her on Facebook, and fill your boots with her pics and clips on Female Muscle Clips, HD Physiques, Her Biceps, Krivs Studio AND - in Madrid from last year and at her most groin-activatingly gorgeous and BIG - on Female City Flex.




And we finish both this post and our week of the country's fine female muscle with 3+ minutes of Korea's gorgeous and very first female muscle superstar. Enjoy!

한국인 of the Day: Kim Ji Hyun

HOLY SH**! What a goddess!

Oh WOW. She's beautiful.

This... Girl... kills... me WOW!

Oh... WOW. So amazingly HOT!




One word keeps cropping up again and again in forum members' reactions to coming across Kim Ji Hyun for the first time. And funnily enough, this was exactly the word that popped into my head when I first laid eyes on this rising Korean star. WOW!




I arrived late at the Kim Ji Hyun appreciation party, as did the forum members above - this year. Turns out I could have been appreciating since 2011 at least.




There was, as you can see, plenty to appreciate about her 2011 self, but whatever she has been doing since then, the results are nothing less than spectacular. Competing this year at the WBC World Body Classic and then at the WFF Universe (in a class called 'Extreme Body'!), KIm Ji Hyun is noticeably both bigger and better in 2014.




Now I'd like to be able to tell you some facts at this point, but sadly my research has turned up absolutely nothing. As I noted in a postscript to Saturday's post, this is due both to my own ignorance, and to the plethora of variant spellings and name orders these Korean goddesses have. Kim Ji Hyun, for example, is also known as Ji Hyun Kim, Ji Hyeon Kim, Kim Ji Hyeon, Chun Li Kim, and plain old Chun Li. She is on Facebook as 김춘리, which she herself transliterates as Chunri Kim, although the page's address, rather amusingly, refers to her as simply "badjihyoun"!!!



Now there's an interesting thought... that despite her utterly angelic looks, Kim Ji Hyun is naughty as... Kim Ji Hyun is a BAD girl... But back to the point, you see how the non-Korean female muscle fan is going to struggle to keep up with his favourite Korean muscle babes when he can't even be sure if he knows what their names are.




Sorry, still thinking about the glute-smacking I'd joyously give this BAD girl...



Anyway, we've already brought you a little Kim Ji Hyun this year, with a mouth-watering clip of her, razor-sharp and oozing sex appeal from the Korean Muscle & Fitness website (see Sexy Selfies, August 21st). I'm happy to report that researching this post I have come across her routine at this year's WFF Universe for you to savour, courtesy of the indispensable You Tube channel that is watatiwatatio.



Enjoy!