10 Years at the Arnold Classic: 2012

NOT DEAD YET



We know now that Female Bodybuilding's days at the Arnolds were very much numbered, but a look at both the Ms International and the two FBB classes at the Arnold Amateur in 2012 doesn't suggest to me that a terminal decline was setting in. Far from it. In the Amateur show, Hong King's Brenda Lo Kit Ming (above) won the Lightweight class - the first woman from Asia to take an Arnold title - with her impressively muscle-packed physique, and would have been a popular choice for the Overall title judging by some of the contemporary fan forum comments. Instead, the judges handed the Overall prize to Russian blonde bombshell Olga Puzanova.



And meanwhile, the Ms International had, as far as Steve Wennerstrom was concerned, "new life breathed into it" two weeks prior tot the show when a leg injury prevented Iris from competing. Suddenly, Yaxeni was the pre-event favourite, it was "her title to lose". She didn't, bringing one of her best ever packages (in my ignorant opinion), and receiving a unanimous thumbs up from the judges for her fifth, final Ms I win.



Yaxeni needed to be at her best. Debi Laszewski - "buffed and shined to perfection" - and Alina Popa, with "all the qualities of a star in the making" were right behind her. Wennerstrom felt Debi was unique in the way that after 16 years as a Female Bodybuilder she was still improving year in year out, while Alina, he said, provided "a beacon of what is in line for the future of women's bodybuilding". His report in general couldn't be more positive and less foreboding. Both in terms of the contest and the 14-woman line-up, this was as good a Ms International as there had been for many a year.



Perennial top six finishers Lisa Aukland, Betty Pariso and Dayana Cadeau were, along with Iris, all absent or had "retired" over the previous couple of years, but the women making their Ms International debuts in 2012 provided further cause for optimism, not least those who were graduates of the Arnold Amateur - Geraldine Morgan (14th, two-time top 3 Amateur Heavyweight), Alevtina Goroshinskaya (7th, 2011 Amateur Overall), Maria Segura (12th, 2008 Amateur Overall), and Rita Bello (8th, 2010 Amateur Overall). It's easy to forget that as recently as 2012 the "system" of having Arnold (and Olympia) Amateur Female Bodybuilding to feed competitors from outside the US into the pro ranks was working so very nicely.




Also lining up for the first time at the Arnolds was Mmmmonique Jones, drawing comparisons with none other than Lenda Murray (but bigger!) and leaving Wennerstrom and "most anyone" at a loss to why she failed to place higher than 10th. Instead, the debutant who made the biggest splash was Kim Buck, whose "streamlined, finely-tuned physique" was well worth the 5th place she was awarded.



Brigita Brezovac was another, more fancied pre-contest, woman making her Arnold debut. Like Yaxeni, she deliberately arrived at the show smaller (ie. at a lower weight) than she had recently competed at in order to boost her definition. Unlike for Yaxeni though, the drop didn't pay off. Having had a meteoric rise in 2010-11 (three pro contest wins plus a 3rd at the 2011 Olympia) Brigita had to settle for 6th here.



Looking back to this contest now, it's clear that there was nothing inevitable about the cancellation of the Ms International the following year (and later the Ms Olympia), and on top of that, one of the justifications trotted out - that the women had got "too big" - is somewhat undermined. Both the 2012 Ms International champion and one of the sports brightest new stars showed that less muscle more defined was not something they were averse to and the judges treated them differently. "Brigita will no doubt have many more invitations to this event in her future," Wennerstrom wrote, clearly believing the future would in no way be as bleak as it actually turned out to be.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME



In other divisions, however, clearer signposts can be found. In the Amateur show, for example, the Overall title went to future multiple Bikini International and Olympia winner Ashley Kaltwasser, so for the first time I find myself looking at the Arnold Amateur Bikini champ and saying, "Ah yes! That's what Bikini looks like."



And if you've been reading all the Arnold posts since Saturday (thank you), you'll be aware of my pet theory about Figure becoming ever more muscular during the period, and here's the latest update. Nicole Wilkins (winner for the third year in a row in 2012) is still nowhere near as muscular as her 2017 self, but compare her to 2010 (left) I think it's clear that she (and by association the whole division) is growing.



No change in the Fitness champion - Adela Garcia again - but if she was looking over her shoulder, she would have seen the future coming towards her in the shape of the woman who would become the next, even more dominant force in the division. 3rd was by far Oksana Grishina's best Fitness International placing at her 5th attempt - she had never previously finished higher than 5th, and had been a lowly 8th in 2011.



BRITISH INTEREST?



Yes! Also in pro Fitness, where Kizzy Vaines (pretty in pink, 7th) gained her best ever and Britain's best pro result at the Arnolds since the days of Gayle Moher.

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: 2010

FAMILIAR RESULTS NEW & OLD

All three division winners were also the reigning Olympia champions.



Need I say anything? I imagine the contest was over as a contest the second Iris faced the back and flared her lats. Whether you see 'bumps' (aka 'distortions') on those glutes or not, whether you think Iris was the best ever or a major factor in IFBB pro Female Bodybuilding's demise, it's impossible to deny that she didn't deserve to win. Again.



Meanwhile, in the Fitness division, four-time Fitness Olympia champ and two-time Fitness International winner Adela Garcia returned to the Arnolds after a two-year break to resume normal service and continue a nine-show winning streak that had started at the 2009 Olympia and finished at her final show, the 2013 Olympia.



And then there was Nicole Wilkins. As we saw yesterday, Nicole had given Fitness a crack at the Arnolds in 2009. Here she returned to the division in which her previous best Arnolds finish had been 12th in 2008, but she was returning as the reigning Ms Olympia. Still, I should point out, needing to wear both a one-piece and a two-piece in this division, and clearly not yet needing to show much definition to win over the Figure judges, Nicole took the first of three consecutive Figure International titles.

FUTURE PHYSIQUES



I imagine the stark contrast between Nicole and Iris may have had something to do with the realisation on the part of the authorities that the women needed another division, intermediate between Figure and Bodybuilding. The creation of the Physique division is a little way down the road yet, and its Arnold bow is even further down the road, but the some of the women who would populate it would often have years of Arnolds experience behind them, and there were more than a few on stage in 2010.



And when the women came into this brand new division, they didn't only come from one direction. Zoa Linsey (top), as I'm sure you know, competed a Bodybuilder - she finished a very creditable 7th here given the competition. In the Amateur show, future Physique stars Heather Grace, Jillian Reville,and Mikaila Soto all competed in the same Figure class at the 2010 Arnolds, while Autumn Swansen (then stlll Edwards) and Minna Pajulahti both appeared in the same Amateur Fitness class.



And in Amateur Bodybuilding, the now obviously built for Physique Sherri Gray, and - though she wasn't quite finished with Bodybuilding yet - Katka Kyptova both made their Arnold debuts here and would later go on to strut their stuff in the WPD.



THE NEW BREED?



It wasn't just a case of plus ça change with Iris winning. The only difference between the 2009 and 2010 Ms International top 6 was that Yaxeni and Debi swapped places.



But down in 8th - yes, one place lower than Zoa Linsey! - Arnold audiences caught their first glimpse of Alina, who would soon join the ranks of the serious challengers to Iris' crowns, and, like Heather Policky before her, would carry the hope of a legion of fans that finally "the sport" could, at last, be about to have a new Queen.



The quality of the Amateur Bodybuilding show, however, was starting to wane. Fewer women competing (just five in each of the three classes) and much less of the quality that had so electrified audiences for its first two years. In not very competitive classes, Lisa Aranda (Lightweight) and Marina Lemenovskaya (Middleweight) were both worthy winners, but hardly looked to be about to turn pro FBBing on its head.



Happily though, Rita Bello was Overall champion. A year too late, perhaps, but at least here was a woman who was entering the pro ranks fully formed and ready to do battle. Where was the next international generation though? It wouldn't be long before the answer to that question was definitively NOT at the Arnold Amateur.

BRITISH INTEREST?

For the first time, YES!!!



Future World's Sexiest Grandmother Sharon Madderson was the first to represent Britain in Bodybuilding at the Arnolds. Sharon finished 4th (out of 5) in the Bello-dominated Heavyweight class, also behind the much bigger Salla Kauranen and Nidia Hermosillo. Enjoyed the experience though, if the pictures don't lie.



And Kizzy Vaines, who, until Emma Paveley came along, carried the pro Fitness flag for Great Britain all by herself, placed 12th after achieving some impossibly deranged body positions that doubtless had fellas in the audience licking their lips.