Anyone who has gone to Columbus for the Arnold Weekend knows that this is the best organized contest and overall event in bodybuilding. And this year it was the BEST it has ever been. The Expo trade show was moved from last year's venue at the Veteran's Memorial Auditorium to the Convention Center, increasing the floor space from 60,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet. The number of exhibitors was almost doubled. There has been some trouble with transportation in the past, but not this year. The busses provided were dependable and on time. There has been a tendency at the Arnold for the security people to be somewhat over-zealous, making it difficult for journalists and photographers to get where they needed to be. Not this year. Everyone was extremely cooperative.

There was only one real problem with the Arnold 2000 - the stage lighting at the Vet's Auditorium was so bad it was impossible for the judges or the audience to see the physiques on stage. For men's prejudging, there was little light coming from the front, but bright, glaring lights at the side of the stage - which were pretty much right in the judges' eyes. When those lights were turned off to see if this was an improvement, the stage became so dark they had to be turned on again.

The night shows were a nightmare. There was an elaborately decorated set that was so dimly lit you are not likely to see any clear photos of it. Other lights rotated and flashed on and off, often shining directly out into the eyes of judges and spectators alike. Again, there was almost no light from the front, so it was impossible to see any detail in the physiques on stage. Photographers metered the lighting levels as something like 1/4 what the MINIMUM should have been. More lights from the side alternately bathed the physiques in red, yellow, blue and green light. A green physique? Was the Incredible Hulk supposed to be competing? Happy Halloween.

It was conjectured that this lighting might have been designed for television. However, watching the monitors backstage it was obvious that the lighting sucked for video as well. The screen would show a physique suddenly bathed in light and then going dark. Three competitors would stand side by side and a spotlight would focus on two and a time...and keep moving around trying to light them all. The lighting was so "busy" the physiques tended to get lost - even when there was enough light to actually see them in the first place.

Whoever designed this lighting - evidently trying to be "theatrical" - did not understand the basic nature of the events being held. Bodybuilding audiences buy tickets in order to see PHYSIQUES. They want to see what Flex Wheeler looks like standing next to Chris Cormier, how Vickie Gates and Iris Kyle compare with one another. Fancy lighting is fine, as long as it doesn't obscure the bodies. In other words, to paraphrase President Clinton, "It's the physiques, stupid!"

This lighting was the worst I have seen in 20 years of covering shows. Lighting like this can change the outcome of a contest. It prevents photographers from getting decent pictures, which limits promotion and publicity and is even more of a problem since many of the magazines - Weider Publications, Muscle Mag and Muscular Development, for example - were also exhibitors at the Arnold Expo and financial supporters of the weekend.

Unfortunately, lighting has always been the main problem at the Arnold shows. Hopefully, somebody will explain this to Jim Lorimer and to Arnold and the lighting will be at least adequate next year. They have done such a wonderful job organizing this special weekend, and done everything else right - how hard can it be to light the stage so that the judges and audience can see the show and the photographers can shoot decent pictures?