10 Years at the Arnold Classic: 2008

With the 2018 edition of the Arnold Classic opening its doors next Thursday (1st March), we thought it might be both a good time and interesting to look back at what's happened there over the last decade. It's seen a lot of change since 2008, much more than we had imagined truth be told, and not simply because of the death of the Ms International. Over the next ten days we'll be seeing how that change has come about and why the 2018 contest will be very different from where we start today - 2008.

BRING ON THE AMATEURS



What sets the Arnolds apart from the Olympia is that it is both a pro and amateur show and has been since 2008, when, for the first time, amateur FBBs were given the chance to compete. 27 took the chance, and were divided into three weight classes - Light, Middle and Heavy. Joanne Stewart of New Zealand (above) won the 12-woman Lightweight class; in the Middleweight class Holly Nicholson edged out Alicia St. Germaine (both below); but there was, according to contemporary reports, a clear winner in the Heavies, and she was to triumph in the Overall posedown too.



Maria Carmen Gomez Segura dominated the Heavyweight class not only with her physique, but by her stage presence as well. The Arnold Expo spectators came alive during Segura's routine and stayed around to cheer her Overall award later. Her closest competition among the Heavyweights was from the blond Canadian Mary Lynne MacKenzie, although Segura was really in a class of her own.



Fitness and Figure also featured (Celeste Bonin was one of the Figure competitors - you may have heard of her!), but in terms of where the Arnolds are at now, the fact that the Arnold Amateur began with Maria Segura, one of the biggest beefiest amateurs we've ever seen, walking off with the Overall crown kind of makes it sound like it happened in a different dimension rather than a mere 10 years ago, doesn't it?

REMEMBER THE ONE-PIECE?



And adding to that sense that I was digging up pictures from the dim and distant past was my rediscovery of the Fitness and Figure one-piece. I'd forgotten all about this!



Not a bit missed by this female muscle fan nor, I would imagine, by the competitors themselves. In Figure - why would you not want to see their abs? Fitness - isn't it enough to parade these poor women around the stage once, sapping the little strength left in their depleted bodies before they perform their impossibly demanding routines? Making them parade twice - and change in between! - seems almost sadistic now.



Kim Klein (top left and above) was #1 in a 12-strong Fitness line-up that included Mindi O'Brien. Gina Aliotti (top right and middle) beat 15 other women to the Figure title. Two names with better days at the Arnolds ahead both finished way behind Gina that day - Nicole Wilkins (11th) and Juliana Malacarne (12th).

IRIS' BUMP YEAR



This was the Ms International where Iris finished 7th despite being at the height of her powers and undefeated at the Arnolds since 2002. The reason, for some time, remained a mystery. I’m still quite puzzled, said Iris many days after the show. I have received no feedback, leaving me with thousands of unanswered questions. I made a couple of calls but I couldn’t get through. Only much later did the Head Judge Sandy Ranalli confirm a rumour that "bumps" were responsible for Iris' placing during a radio interview. Her shoulders were a little bit, you know, distorted. There were distortions in her glute area, she said. At this level of competition, [there is] not a big difference between athletes, those things come into play. It was the distortion.



As these things went in those days, Iris didn't win so Yaxeni did. Just my opinion, but one or two of the rest of the top 6 might well still feel they could have got the nod instead.



BRITISH INTEREST?

Nope.

Chicago 2014: The Return of Maria Segura

One of many reasons to love Chicago 2014 was the fact that it marked the return to competition of one Maria Carmen Gomez Segura - and THOSE LEGS of hers!



It's not like she's been away for years and years and years - her last contest was the 2012 Ms International - but even one year without Maria is a year too many.



As has been the norm since she turned pro, Maria didn't impress the judges in Chicago enough to even get into the top ten, but, as we have noted here before on FMS (see Freak: Maria Segura), a truly huge hardcore bodybuilder, which she most certainly is, doesn't need to win trophies to gain the devotion of hardcore bodybuilding fans.



Nor, it seems, does she need to win trophies to gain the devotion of hardcore female bodybuilding photographers, either. Mr Female Muscle Clips, for example, recently made the entire female muscle lovin' brethren green with envy when he posted some of his "holiday snaps" onto the forum whose first rule is you do not talk about it. It seems she is so spectacular that even photographers come to her home to have the honour to take couple of photos and make a movie with her, one response to the photos read.



Of the contest photographers there in Chicago, James Cook of FTVideo is to be congratulated for being the only one to zoom in on Maria's mighty legs.



It's fantastic to see Maria back on stage from any angle, though. Her rear double biceps and side chest poses are just as instantly groin-activating as they've ever been.



Let's hope it's not going to be another two years before we get to see Maria and her monstrous Mexican muscles oiled up and ripped on a contest stage again. And let's hope that when she does squeeze her mighty physique into a posing suit again, for once the judges might see her through the eyes of us fanboys (Mr FMC and Mr Annie Riveccio included), and give her a placing to reflect the fact that she's one of those fbbs who gives us that little bit extra, and so deserves to get that little bit of extra love.




Enjoy!

Freak: Maria Segura

Some female bodybuilders are bigger than others, and some female bodybuilders' legs are bigger than other female bodybuilders' legs. And then there are some female bodybuilders' legs that belong in a category all of their own. Legs that just take your breath away. Legs that make your eyes pop out of your head.



Mr Female Muscle Clips, working as hard as ever in the image above, has seen more than a few pairs of muscular legs, and seen tham up close and personal at that. Mr Female Muscle Clips reckons that Maria Segura's legs are THE BEST of all FBBs.




Whether you agree with Mr Female Muscle Clips or not (and let's face it, you are hardly likely to have spent as much time as he has doing your field research, so his opinion should count for something) Maria's legs are definitely among the biggest, thickest and freakiest we have ever seen. I mean, check out some of these images. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some of those muscles that adorn Maria's legs had their own postcodes, especially that 'leg bicep'.




Mexico's greatest ever FBB export, Maria Carmen Gomez Segura turned 40 this June (feliz cumpleaños, Maria!). She began her bodybuilding career in her 20s. Her first show (and victory) in 1998 was the bizarrely titled 'Mr Beard'! By 2007, she had a handful of national titles already under her belt, and won the IFBB North Americans that year, and followed that up in 2008 with victory at the Arnold Amateur. As a pro, Maria has not enjoyed much success with the judges, but a truly huge hardcore bodybuilder, which she most certainly is, doesn't need to win trophies to gain the devotion of hardcore bodybuilding fans.




Non-female muscle heads might be able to understand why we get all hot and bothered by, say, a figure or physique competitor - someone like Juliana Malacarne, for example (although even 'La Malacarne' would be a step too far for most, but you get my meaning). Women like Maria, however, and legs like Maria's, they will never understand. Super freaks are just for us. Perhaps that's why we love them just that little bit more.



Check out the result of Mr Female Muscle Clips' hard work with Maria's mind-boggling body, with understandable emphasis on those amazing legs in the preview below and visit the Female Muscle Clips website if you can't live without the full version.



Enjoy!