10 Years at the Arnold Classic: 2011

MUSCLE UP



Having been a bit thin on the ground the previous year, and now organised into just two weight classes, the Amateur Female Bodybuilders who turned up for the Arnolds in 2011 proved there was still muscle in the US and beyond. Lots of it - even if the judges managed somehow to give Lightweight class winner Marina Lemenovskaya (left) the Overall trophy instead of the Heavyweight Alevtina Goroshinskaya.



In the Lightweight class 3rd place Nathalie Falk was pleasingly hard, while runner-up Branka Njegovec showed the audience what a real woman's abs look like.



The muscle bonanza was, unsurprisingly however, mostly in the Heavyweight class, where heads in the audience must have been struggling to know where to look - at Natalia Romaschko's legs perhaps, or Roberta Toth's (no doubt) rippling muscle belly? Giuditta Magazzino was never bigger than here, and Triple Dee (aka Robin Hillis) was (and is) just BIG - but only big enough for 15th, according to the judges.



Arnold Amateur fixture Salla Kaurenen had to settle for 3rd this time, Geraldine Morgan edging her for the runner's-up spot, and well worth it as far as I can see.



And then there was Katka - approaching her (dark-haired) 2012 peak.



Was this the line-up that convinced Arnold he didn't want these women around him while they grew towards pro status?! Imagine the thunder as they all walked on...

GO FIGURE



While amateur FBBing was making a bit of a comeback at the Arnolds, the first Bikini International was taking place over at the pro show. On the plus side, women now had four divisions to choose from, although this new one was almost completely devoid of any of the hallmarks of what "bodybuilding" was widely understood to be about.

Anyway, Nicole Nagrani was the first Ms Bikini International.



While us female muscle fans do like to make fun of the Bikini division (if we acknowledge it at all), I wonder whether its introduction did indeed have positive effects on Figure. Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, this was the first year the ladies of the Figure division didn't face the indignity of the "one-piece", meaning the running order of the Figure contest as it is now was established at this point. Nicole Wilkins won for the second year in a row, carrying a little more muscle than before, and from this point on, it seems to me, this is the way Nicole, and indeed the whole division, goes. More muscle and the forging of its own, distinct from Bikini, identity.

BREAKING THROUGH



We noted yesterday that the winners of the other three female classes - Iris Kyle, Nicole Wilkins and Adele Garcia, were the then reigning Olympia champions in their respective divisions. A year later and nothing had changed (and even the runners-up in Bodybuilding and Figure stayed the same). We also noted the top 6 Bodybuilders, though in a slightly different order, hadn't altered from 2009-2010.



So Alina Popa's achievement at only her show as a pro should not go unheralded. And she didn't just break into the top 6, she smashed her way into the top 3 - by no means overshadowed by Yaxeni and Iris on the day, by no means a distant 3rd. Here is a new superstar on the rise, GMV Bodybuilding reckoned, and time proved them right.

BRITISH INTEREST?

Not this year, I'm afraid.

10 Years at the Arnold Classic: 2009

NORMAL SERVICE IS RESUMED...



No 'bumps', no 'distortions'. Or at least none that the judges took offence to anyway. Iris Kyle became Ms International for the 4th time at the 2009 Arnold Classic.

BUT HOW DIFFERENT IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN



Iris' physique was, for me (and I know nothing), at its most epic at that show. If ever she looked like she ruled as she did, it was then. But at the same time I'm looking at the women who she beat that day (and pretty much every other day too), and I can't help wondering, what if...? What if runner-up Debi Laszewski or 4th place Heather Policky had got the nod that day? What if Yaxeni - who placed 3rd but for my money looked miles ahead of her 2008 Ms International self - had defended her title?



When the perceived foregone conclusion was always, without exception, realised, all but the biggest Iris fans simply got bored. Would it have made a difference to what was about to happen to pro Female Bodybuilding if the Ms International had started to crown different winners? Debi went on trying for years after this, but for Heather this was the penultimate show. She could have won here, she could have won the Olympia.



Would she have continued if she'd won either? Would it have given the division the shot in the arm (if you'll excuse the expression) it so badly needed? Would it merely have meant a year or two extra at the Arnolds before it was axed, or would it have made absolutely no difference at all? One thing it might have done is to have given the Ms International an identity distinct from the Olympia. But it never happened.



Iris had become, to all intents and purposes, invincible.

BIKINI BOW



No pro Bikini division, but for the first time Bikini at the Arnold Amateur. There were two classes: Gia Allemand (left) won the A class, Ali Sonoma the B. I guessed Ali won the Overall "posedown" between the two. And believe it or not, I guessed right.

Sarcasm aside, this meant that in the pro show there were three different female classes (BB, Figure, Fitness) and in the Amateur show four. For the men, on the other hand, there was just one choice whether pro or amateur - Bodybuilding. Compare that to now with the 212 and the Classic Physique and Physique and they've probably thrown another one in by now as well and called it Model Physique or something. This is definitely one of the stories of the last ten years (at the Arnolds and elsewhere), albeit one we are less interested in - more choice for the boys, much the same for the ladies.

WHERE WERE THEY THEN?

NICOLE WILKINS - Fitness (8th)



JULIANA MALACARNE - Figure (13th)
HEATHER GRACE - Amateur Figure D (2nd)



I think it's safe to say that in both cases improvements have been made!

Note the one-piece is still in effect.

AUTUMN EDWARDS (now SWANSEN) - Amateur Fitness C (Winner)



As above, improvements have been made!

YES, YES, BRING ON THE AMATEURS!



There was quality on display in every class in the Female Bodybuilding division at the Amateur show. Tellingly though, little of that quality went on to bigger and better things, and apart from one notable exception - Rita Bello (above) - none of these magnificent women are competing as FBBs anymore if they are competing at all.



In what we now realise was her customary mind-boggling, groin-activating shape, Rita won the Heavyweight class that year. She needed to be that good to leave gorgeous Geraldine Morgan (3rd, now a consistently unsuccessful Physique competitor) and the much-missed-in-my-house runner-up Alevtina Goroshinskaya in her wake.



Rita was joined in the Overall posedown by the Blonde Bomber herself, Lightweight class winner Johanna Dejager - and I would bet that guy whose head is obscuring your view probably still replays in his head what his front row seat allowed him to see multiple times per day. He'd be rich if it were possible to make videos of memories...



Meanwhile, among the Middleweights, 2008 Lightweight winner Joanne Stewart looked like she'd found an even finer razor with which to sharpen her conditioning but only finished 3rd, one place ahead of Finnish behemoth Salla Kaurenen.



The Middleweight and (I imagine slightly controversial given Rita's impression of a living anatomy chart) Overall winner was the undeniably gifted Elena Shportun. Seriously, if that guy could put his memories on film, he'd be minted for life!

BRITISH INTEREST?

Still a negative on that, I'm afraid.

January Clearance! [A-D]

"Too many to feature here" is a phrase I seem to have typed a lot over the past year, referring to the vast number of women and/or images the female muscle head is faced with in these instant information times. On the upside, you never go short. The downside for the blogger is there are far too many to feature here - there I go again.

It felt wrong just to forget about the women we intended to feature at some stage during 2017 but didn't. Firstly, the fact they have come to our attention at all is the result of some pretty solid sifting by the FMS research team, and it would just be plain rude to ignore all that hard work. And secondly, it's not the case that we once thought these women were worth posting about and don't anymore - we still do.

The solution we came up with is The FMS January Clearance - we're going to feature all the women who are taking up space in the "TBC" folder on the 2017 planner. And you're getting them all together in a sort of but not really alphabetical order (you'll see what I mean). Further your enjoyment by clicking on the names.

Five beautiful bods a day for seven days. Have fun!


ANGELA YEO



Angela may be familiar because she got a fair bit of attention on the forums last year after switching from a natural federation to the NPC. She debuted at the Kentucky Muscle show and outclassed a (surprisingly large) field to take the Overall title. She also produced an IG clip dubbed the "Sexiest Ab Flex in the World". Want to see it?




BLAKELEE ORTEGA



No f***ing way! is what we everyone says the first time we see beautiful Blakelee's behemoth (allegedly 16") biceps, but unless this "aspiring physique competitor" from Alabama is doctoring every single one of her IG photos, they're real enough.



"You look like a man." "You’re getting too big." "Gross." These are all comments I’ve heard, says Blakelee, and will probably continue to hear. But I never have and never will let comments like this get me down or make me reconsider my passion for bodybuilding. They only let me know I’m right where I need to be!



Nice. She'd be properly scary if she wasn't so damn cute.


CHRISTINA ALEV



Christina is a prime example of a woman we really wanted to post, but whose bio we couldn't quite get down, and her past remains murky to us still. She'll be back on the blog at some stage, but for now we'll share the little we do know about this beauty.



She's originally from Estonia, but now calls Britain home (see? She's got the T-shirt to prove it) and has ruled Masters Bodyfitness in the North-east for the last couple of years, winning back-to-back UKBFF titles. She was 5th in her category at the British Championships in 2016, but (we think she competed) didn't make the top 6 last year.



Forum heads like the veins on her arms. A lot. And it seems some people - "afonsoqf", for example - like her abs a lot too. Seriously, I could be a millionaire, says Christina.


KATIE DAVIES



Don't be fooled by the young Colette Nelson looks (or just me?) or the exotic (Mexican, it turns out) location, "jungle gym" personal trainer Katie is one of ours too.



To say that these beach workout pics caused a bit of a sensation on the forums when they went up would be an understatement. I would not be at all surprised if business at the Tulum resort where Katie plies her trade suddenly got noticeably brisker than normal on or around December 10th as heads booked up their 2018 summer hols.



Bed, board and a daily session with Ms Davies? Yes f***ing please!


LACEY DUNN



She hasn't competed since 2016, but Lacey likes a flex, so despite being "only" a Bikini competitor, she's well worth a mention even before you consider she is a past "Best Abs in Expo" winner at the Arnolds, a Bodybuilding.com talent search winner, and she's got her own podcast. Nearly 350,000 IG followers too. And all this while working through college. We hope she'll be back on stage breaking those Bikini rules again in 2017.



Five more of 2017's left unposted tomorrow.