THE FEMALE PHYSIQUE WEBZINE/GALLERY

GNC SHOW OF STRENGTH
WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING REPORT
November 8th, 2002 – New Orleans

By Bill Dobbins

INTRODUCTION
There are very few IFBB contests for pro women – the Jan Tana Classic, the Ms. International and the Ms. Olympia - so everyone in the sport was very pleased to learn there would be a new contest in 2002.  The GNC sponsored Show of Strength in New Orleans was planned to be a new version of the Arnold Weekend – with weightlifting, arm wrestling and other events in addition to male and female pro bodybuilding and pro fitness.

One disappointment was that the contest was an invitational like the Ms. International rather than open to all pros.  At this point, the Jan Tana is the only pro contest in which women can enter without an invitation, making it the competition of choice for women trying to earn invitations to the other contests.  With another invitational show scheduled you are bound to end up with primarily seeing the same faces and bodies that enter the other events.

However, an invitational contest is better than none so everyone in the sport had high hopes for its success.  But some expressed doubts that an audience could be found for a pro female bodybuilding contest so soon after the Ms. Olympia and in a city like New Orleans, not a place you would think had much of a bodybuilding audience on its own.

WHAT IF THEY GAVE A CONTEST….
What if they gave a contest and nobody came?  That, unfortunately, is pretty much what happened.  The Convention Center is New Orleans is huge.  The promoters certainly pulled out all the stops when it came to organization and planning.  In trying to learn from Arnold promoter Jim Lorimer they learned their lessons well.  Everything from hotels to transportation to contest and expo facilities were first-rate.  The problem was the attendance, which was enormously disappointing.

Part of the problem was, as mentioned above, having a major pro contest right after the Olympia and just before the NPC Nationals.  There is only so much audience to go around for national and international shows.  But another was advertising.  The event did a majority of its promotion through GNC’s Physical Magazine.  Although this publication is widely read, it is not where potential ticket buyers for bodybuilding and fitness events go to learn about upcoming events.  There was also some advertising in Flex, but not in Iron Man or Muscle Mag.  Some promotion was done in Muscle Elegance, but this magazine has a relatively small circulation and its readers are generally more interested in erotic photos of female muscle than in buying tickets to contests.

I don’t have exact attendance figures but vendors participating in the expo spent a lot of time talking to each other and there were no more than a few hundred in the auditorium for the female bodybuilding and fitness finals.  Obviously, if the promoters are going to continue to hold this event they are going to have to advertise it more energetically.  They must have lost a lot of money holding this year’s Show of Strength.

FEMALE BODYBUILDING
The women’s bodybuilding line-up was a small one – two classes, with 8 lightweight and 5 heavyweights.  (A 6th heavyweight, Vicky Gates, withdrew due to medical problems.)  But the quality of the competitors chosen to participate was excellent.  Prejudging was held at the expo, as is done in Columbus at the Arnold contest, and the lighting was excellent considering what kind of a hall was being used.  Because anyone who paid to come into the expo could also watch the contest there seemed to be more people in the audience than would be on hand later for the finals – but it is difficult to say how many of those actually paid, since many onlookers were from the various vendor booths.

THE LIGHTWEIGHTS
The favorite among the lightweights was Valentina Chepiga, winner in the past of the lightweight Ms. Olympia title.  One highlight of the lightweight class was the return of Cathy Priest (formerly Cathy Lafrancois and now wife of male bodybuilder Lee Priest).  Cathy has always been known for her beauty and aesthetic muscle and in New Orleans she was better than ever.  If the IFBB needed any further endorsement of its use of weight classes in women’s pro bodybuilding, Cathy’s appearance on stage is it.

Another favorite was Fannie Barrios, whose only real handicap at the top pro level is not being as attractive as knock-outs like Valentina and Cathy.  But she certainly can’t be faulted when it comes to physique.  Kim Harris was also in the contest, and she continues to radiate unrealized potential.  Kim has everything necessary to rise to the top in the sport.  But she is also pursuing a demanding banking career and it remains to be seen if it is possible to focus on bodybuilding with the intensity necessary to win major pro titles while also working full time.

Nationals winner Rosemary Jennings continues to be one of the most densely muscular women in the sport.  Not on stage being compared to others in her class you would swear she was a heavyweight.  But she needs to shape and chisel that muscle to a considerable degree to be a championship contender in the pros.

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS
The heavyweight class was all about Yaxeni Enrique vs. Iris Kyle.  Yaxeni is bigger but Iris has almost no faults – and her glutes/hamstrings/calves are probably the best in the sport. These two were obviously the ones competing for the class title.  An audience favorite was Tazzie Colomb, a native of New Orleans.  In past years, Tazzie has taken herself out of competition by coming in too heavy and blocky, but she has corrected these faults in recent competitions by slimming down and becoming much more sculptural.

In the rest of the class, Jan Tana winner Beth Roberts was in excellent shape but still needs some time to develop fully up to top pro standards.  Lesa Lewis – always one of the most attractive and impressive women in the sport – was simply not in very good shape, something that is becoming all too predictable with Lesa.  Almost everyone who knows the sport agrees that there is nothing between Lesa and a chance at more major titles than a really effective diet program.

THE FINALS - LIGHTING
Aside from the lack of audience, the major problem at the finals was the lighting.  The producers explained they were doing their best to copy Jim Lorimer’s contest in Columbus, buy they were apparently unaware that the Arnold weekend has been successful over they years in everything but lighting the women on stage.  The light was so weak in New Orleans that photographers were resorting en masse to shooting with flass – or pushing their film to unacceptable limits.  The stage didn’t have much depth and the wall behind the competitors was very bright, so everyone – including the judges – ended up looking at dimly lit physiques against a bright background.

At the men’s contest the following night the stage looked very different.  There was more depth to the stage and the lighting was much brighter.  So it seems as if the poor lighting for the women was done on purpose, perhaps trying to make them seem “pretty” rather than trying to show the details of their physiques.  Also, once again we saw a lot of “smoke” being introduced on stage.  This is ALWAYS A MISTAKE in physique contests.  It simply obscures the physiques and reduced contrast, making it hard to see or photograph the bodies the contest is all about.

THE INDIVIDUAL POSING
The Ms. Olympia was significant in how well the women posed – with the women presenting themselves in skillful and aesthetic routines but also being careful to hit and hold poses so the judges, audience and photographers could get a good look at them.  This was NOT the case in New Orleans.

Women competitors should get it through their heads that they are BODYBUILDERS and it is all about showing muscle.  There was a lot of “strutting” across the stage, wasting a lot of time.  There was too much “feminine” presentation where no real muscle was displayed – and when it was the poses were just the compulsories from prejudging all over again.  And when will these women learn to STOP THE SILLY DANCING!  It is one thing when a skilled poser like Valentina Chepiga does a bodybuilding version of Swan Lake while also being careful to show off the quality of her physique.  But Lesa Lewis – to name just one bad example – gyrated around the stage without ever hitting a real muscle pose.  A huge disappointment to her fans and certainly nothing that would do her any good in a judged bodybuilding round.

Note to women bodybuilders: Learn to pose aesthetically and effectively but don’t try to convince everyone how “feminine” you are or apologize for having muscles.  This is BODYBUILDING and it is all about aesthetic muscular display.  Get with the program.

THE CLASS RESULTS
The lightweights came down to a contest between Valentina Chepiga and Cathy Priest, both in great shape, both beautiful with excellent physiques.  Valentina was the winner by a narrow margin, with Cathy winning two rounds.  One of those rounds was the “muscularity” round (compulsory posing).  Given how relatively small (although in great shape) Cathy was you have to wonder exactly what criteria the judges were using.  As I’ve said before, this idea of having each round in IFBB contest scored separately is a confusing one.  There is no such quality as “symmetry” as opposed to “muscularity” in bodybuilding.  There is only who is the best bodybuilder, all things considered.  So the IFBB system continues to be contrived and clunky.

Yaxeni Oriquen beat Iris Kyle for the heavyweight title.  Certainly, she looked like a champion in the finals.  But Yaxeni had not looked as good in prejudging.  Her color was off, for one thing.  Iris, on the other hand, was just about perfect.  The question is not whether Yaxeni should have won.  Rather, it is how can Iris look so good at the Ms. Olympia and the Show of Strength events and (apparently) not get a single first place vote in any round?  How is it all the judges in both shows feel she shouldn’t win even a round, much less the contest? 

As with the Olympia, even if you think Iris should have placed second the contest should have been closer.  It is apparent she is the victim of political judging – at least to some degree.  It is true she asks for it in many ways – in the sense of avoiding publicity and being so withdrawn at contests that the judges (not necessarily the other bodybuilders) feel they are being disrespected.  But it is clear that, no matter how good Lenda Murray or Yaxeni Oriquen are (and they are very good indeed), the IFBB judges simply don’t WANT Iris to win anything if they can avoid it.   If the federation really wants to be considered an Olympic-level, world-class organization, it ought to clean up its act in regard to biased judging.  Although it can be said, in light of recent IOC scandals, that this is a type of behavior all too “Olympic” in nature.

That being said, Yaxeni Oriquen looked tremendous and could certainly have reasonably been the winner if no politics or bias were in evidence at all.  She is an awesome bodybuilder, indeed.

THE OVERALL
All things being equal, the bigger bodybuilder tends to beat the smaller one.  And so Yaxeni Oriquen defeated Valentina Chepiga for the overall Show of Strength bodybuilding title.  By what margin she took this victory we can’t say.  Once again, the IFBB does not include the overall scoring in its published scoresheets.

CONCLUSION
The promoters are hoping to hold the Show of Strength again next year.  It would be for the good of the sport if they were able to do so.  But here are a few suggestions:

  1. Consider holding this contest at a different time of year.  There might not be a better calendar date, all things considered, but the possibility should be looked into.
  2. By all means, advertise and promote this contest more energetically – in all the top physique magazines (and websites, too!) and for a longer period than just a month or two. 
  3. Consider opening up the women’s contest to more competitors.  The audience has already seen the few top pro women at other contests.  There are dozens around the world who want the chance to break into the top ranks.
  4. Improve the lighting for the women bodybuilders.  They should be lit to look like bodybuilders, not to make them look “pretty.”

Finally, let me emphasize that the promoters of the Show of Strength spent a lot of money and went to a lot of effort to make this contest happen.  Their problem is they are an “expansion team” and trying to accomplish overnight what took Jim Lorimer and Arnold Schwarzenegger years to learn to do.  There were a lot of mistakes made but they weren’t the result of bad intentions or not trying hard enough.

Certainly, if and when the contest is held again it represents an excellent opportunity for female bodybuilding fans to see their favorites in a smaller and less expensive venue than the Olympia or the Arnold and to get in closer contact with them without having to fight through the massive crowds at the other contests.  Plus, New Orleans is an attractive tourist town so a visit to the Latin Quarter and Bourbon Street can add to the rewards of making the trip.