10 Years at the Arnold Classic: 2016

ORDEM E PROGRESSO



The rise and rise of Brazilian female muscle was clear for all to see at the Arnold Amateur in 2016. Brazilian women took home three of the four Overall titles, and in some classes - like the short Physique class for example, totally dominated.



Fernanda Kunze (above) had the toughest job of all. She first beat future Bikini star Anita Herbert (and 32 other women) to win her class, then outpointed the five other class winners to take the Overall - 1st out of 165(!) women (by my reckoning).



In Figure, Michele Da Silva Pinto (above) led a class Brazilian 1-2 ahead of Wagna Vargas (top left) before taking home that division's Overall title for Brazil as well.



And in Physique, two of the three classes were won by Brazilians. Marjorie Beck (top right) improved on her 5th place the year before by winning the Medium class, and Fernanda Gutilla (above) won the Short class and then went on to win Overall too.



As mentioned above, the pleasingly thick Gutilla led a Short Physique 1-2-3 of Brazilians, completed by Evelaine Rocha (2nd), and Priscila Cavilha (3rd).



Janaina Ferreira (above), 11th out of 12 in the Figure division, was Brazil's only representative in the pro show, however. This state of affairs would change rapidly.

THE FORTY-NINE




Just two years' old was the Physique International. An invitational event for a select eleven the previous year, in 2016 it was thrown open and (what must be) a world record 49 women squeezed onto the stage. Here was the "international" contest that its name promised. And here was Physique, in all its varied and randomly-judged glory!



There was a former Ms Olympia, 16 years on, and there were former Bodybuilders of a more recent vintage - Klaudia Larson, Alicia Alfaro, Geraldine Morgan, and Susan Smith. And from the other side, there was Mindi O'Brien, her "breathtaking" routine harking back to her days as a Fitness competitor. Her placing - a controversial(?) 3rd - better than she'd ever achieved before at the Arnold Classic.



With Dana Linn gone, and Juliana focusing solely on the Olympia, I recall that at the time there was only going to be one winner as far as I was concerned - Dani. Her career trajectory to date seemed to be leading inevitably to a win at the Arnolds, but it wasn't to be. Instead, Dani was runner-up - and far from disappointed to be that - while the judges gave the title to Autumn Swansen, who had competed (with some success) in both the Figure and Fitness divisions at the Arnold Amateur some years previously.



The following year, you may remember, Autumn had something of a wardrobe malfunction while doing her routine at the Arnolds, and she failed to defend her title. But this was, without question though, her day - the high point of her career so far.



One day, I shall have to do a post with all 49 of them for posterity.




What a feast! And most importantly, they all look like they had an absolute ball.



Best Physique International ever? It will take some beating.

BRITISH INTEREST?



A bit of a down year for the Brits, but while we are still thinking about the 49, it should be noted that two of them were representing the UK. Geraldine Morgan was (and still is) perhaps only "technically" British, but I'm not complaining. Both she and Melanie Horton (right) were among the great unplaced at the Physique International. And I am not, by the way, deliberately showing Melanie from the rear. I too would like to know more, but it's my only find of her, I'm sorry to say!



Emma Paveley was 3rd in an Open Fitness class.



And once again, there was a modicum of British Bikini success. (Left to right) Tatiana Ambrosin was 9th in her Masters Bikini class but unplaced in her regular class. Leggy Kym Birchall fared a little better (up to 170cm, 9th), but the best of the Bikini day for Britain was Krishna Kataria, who was 4th on the up to 155cm (that's tiny!) class.

Tales of the Towel: Towelheads

Redefining ethnic slurs so you don't have to...



Here's NPC Fitness competitor and self-styled "Lean Queen" Kyla Ford fresh out of a hot shower. Or maybe a cold one. I like to alternate between the hot and cold water for 1-minute intervals, she says, putting the water as hot as my body can handle, and then as cold as my body can handle. The hot water relaxes the body and helps to reduce stress, she explains, while the cold helps to reduce inflammation and stimulates the removal of toxins through the skin and lymph. So... which one's last?

Either way, if I didn't need a cold one already...



Not quite my idea of heaven, but definitely a starting point.

This must be what life with Dani is like. Twice a day, possibly. No wonder her (perfect) skin looks a touch dry. I'll grab the cream. Or even better I'll make some fresh. Cream.

What this woman does to me!

And last, but by no means least, it's to Russia we go. With love...



These are pretty rare items, I would say, because Ekaterina Kuznetsova's standard M.O. re: locker room and bathroom selfies is not to bother with the towel at all - and she's also (most happily) got a penchant for not bothering with the tiny thong either!



Kyla Ford is The Lean Queen on Instagram; in all probability I don't need to point you towards Dani's social media (but just in case, here she is), and you can find Ekaterina, aka "Katyukha", avec et sans thong on "the Russian Facebook" - her VK page.

Enjoy!

Olympia 2017: Sympathy for the Devils?

The judges, according to some fans, must have been "drunk". Or "asleep". Some of the placings (or non-placings) were "just an insult" to their favourite Physique Dreams. However, as we've seen before on FMS, apparently random placings are very much part of IFBB pro Women's Physique these days, so the wacky final verdict here may well have been incomprehensible, but it was hardly unexpected. Plus ça change.



And anyway, the identities of the women occupying the two top spots behind Juliana were entirely predictable to anyone who's been following this Women's Physique season. Heather Grace (3rd) and Jennifer Taylor (2nd) have been the classiest acts of the 2017 circuit with a grand total of four pro show titles between them.




It's been an especially triumphant season for Jennifer, her first as a Physique competitor having previously worn her heels and kept her muscles under control in the Figure division. She is no novice then - this was her third consecutive appearance at the Olympia - but she adds her silver medal here to her runner's-up sword at the Arizona Pro (see FMS passim) and her golds in San Antonio and Tampa. Having ended last season as the 10th best Figure Olympian, she ends this as La Malacarne's closest challenger, which I think you will agree is quite an achievement. Rookie of the Year.



Also it could hardly be a surprise that Kira Neuman (4th) finished near the top for the third time in a row (she was also 4th last year, and 2nd in 2015), nor that the very gorgeous Sheronica Henton went one place better than her 6th on debut last year.

Which brings us to Dani.



I think we are close to seeing the end of her as a competitor. She seems to be turning into a bit of a head case and didn't even train much the first half of this year. Sponsors dropped her, and her Olympia progress doesn't seem to be on track either. I'm afraid she'll get her ass handed to her this time and slowly fade away afterwards...

Well, I think it's safe to say that the above forum member's nice little half-baked Dani demise theory (posted mid-August) hasn't exactly turned out to be 100% accurate.




Yes, Dani had issues in the first half of the season that kept her out of the Physique International - injury issues. A cursory glance at her Instagram and she seems to be doing a lot of promotion (apart from the self-promotion) so the sponsorship deals haven't exactly run dry, and sure, 6th isn't exactly 2nd (where she was this time last year), but finishing runner-up to Juliana one year doesn't guarantee anything the next - ask Kira, she knows. As for "head case" - aren't they all? Isn't that part of the deal?



He's clearly not a Dani fan, whereas I'm proud to say I am. Anytime Dani's got a posing suit on I'm happy, and given the doom-laden predictions (our forum posting friend offered one of many) I was very pleasantly surprised to see she'd lost none of her sparkle and that bod is as spectacular as ever. Love the hair too! I could thank him for making my expectations so low I couldn't possibly have been disappointed by Dani's package, but that would suggest I had paid his fantasy theory some mind. I didn't.

But it did piss me off just a little bit. Can you tell?




Places 7 to 10 were awarded to, in descending order, to: Ms Physique International Daniely Castilho (the second of four Brazilians, who made up the biggest national group apart from the Americans); former Ms Physique International (and the woman looking most likely to prove that Physique is the new 80s Female Bodybuuilding) Autumn Swansen; fan fave, Hot and Hard 100 #7 and actual "head case" (in a good way) Eleonora Dobrinina; and top and only Asian Penpraghai Tiangngok (who I'm sure we all hope will still be performing her camshows in exactly the same way she did them before she was an IFBB pro - and now a top ten Olympian).



Now once we get outside these top ten the placings (or non-placings) do seem to become a bit random, but with the exception of Jamie Pinder, who was 11th, none of them had any Olympia pedigree to speak of - although perhaps I am doing a disservice to Frances Mendez (unplaced this year, 10th on two previous occasions in saying that. No fewer than ten of the eleven unplaced women were making their Olympia debuts, the only other first-timers to place were Melissa Pearo (13th) and the Amazonian Candrea Judd-Adams (15th). Rightly or wrongly, you get the feeling pedigree counts. Those Olympia judges apparently don't notice competitors unless they've seen them at least once before! Why did Candrea get the nod for 15th over Marjorie Beck, or Tomefafa Ameko, or any of the other unplaced women? Perhaps the answer is simply that this was Candrea's third Olympia appearance.




Perhaps it was something to do with her abs.



Either way, it's clear that at this level, the margins between the top ten and the unplaced are very fine indeed. It's telling we're almost at the end of today's waffle and I haven't even mentioned Jodi Boam, or Margita Zamalova, or the seriously beautiful Keri-Ann Heitzman, or indeed the seriously sexy Doina Gorun.




Telling in the sense that all of these women could have their own posts and there'd be no (or at least very few) issues getting the idea past the editorial hierarchy nor complaints from readers - who might, right now, be typing their complaints that I haven't given their personal fave enough pictures or enough words today...



Fact is, there were 26 amazing women on that stage, and it can't have been an easy job choosing between such a magnificently muscled line-up. You have to go on something, and if that something is "she looks to have made improvements from what I remember from her last year", then there's not much we can do about it. Relax. Enjoy the muscle. There's plenty of it, and beautifully shot, as always, by Igor Kopcek of Eastlabs too.

Now, did I just feel sympathy for the judges?



Tomorrow, we finish our Olympia review in (if I may say) style with, for many, the woman who should have won, probably the most muscular woman in the contest...