The Female Physique Webzine/Gallery
NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS:
"LADIES NIGHT"
City Center, NY - May 29, 2003
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CONTEST REPORTS
INTRO
Wayne Demilia's "Night of Champions" is one of the
most important contests in IFBB bodybuilding. This event is one of
the major stepping stones to the Olympia stage. And for 20 years
it has been all about men's bodybuilding. But this changed in 2003
when Demilia decided to add a Friday night contest all about women's bodybuilding,
fitness and
figure.
"There has obviously been an increasing audience for women's competition," says Demilia. 'We've seen it at the Arnold and the Olympia, and so I felt it was time to bring contests for women back to New York."
Of course, nothing is all that simple when it comes to the IFBB and competition for women. Rather than having a separate prejudging for the women, the whole event was scheduled for one marathon session on Friday night. This was no doubt due to the expense and complications of dealing with New York unions (don't get me started). Getting through every round of all three contests between 7PM and 11PM, plus the finals and the awards, was mind-numbing. Any idea how many quarter turns the various rounds of fitness and figure involve? It's amazing nobody ended up screwing themselves into the stage.
Don't You Look Cute In Your Little Cat Suit: |
Of course, as it got later and later the IFBB started trying to speed things up. Ever seen an old silent movie where the film looks jerky and runs at too fast a speed? That's what it looked like. I half expected Buster Keaton to run out on stage and do some pratfalls.
That said, the contest seemed to be as well run as possible under the circumstances. It's a shame so much had to be crammed into such a short period of time, but if that was the price of having the contest at all then so be it. But it would be nice if Demilia could arrange to have the event held someplace where union considerations were not so much a factor.
WOMEN'S BODYBUILDING
The IFBB allows for three weight classes in women's bodybuilding events. Until now, pretty much only Jan Tana has allowed for three classes. This has not been the case at the Ms. International or the Olympia. Fortunately, the NOC "Ladies Night" did provide for three weight classes in the bodybuilding event. With so much concern being expressed over the women being "too big" (a foreign concept in bodybuilding) encouraging women who are naturally smaller in stature to compete and be able to win titles would seem to be in line with the desires of the federation.
As you might expect, there were relatively few lightweights and middleweights entered in the show - 6 lightweights and 4 in the middleweight class (compared to 12 heavyweights) - because having two lighter weight classes splits up the number who would normally be in a single class. But as the women get used to having 3 classes, and the NOC show becomes more established and popular, there is no doubt going to be more interest shown among lighter-weight competitors.
By the way, the contest organization allowed for only 9 women bodybuilders to do their posing routines. There were 18 fitness women and all of them not only did their individual performances but their 45 second "cat suit" routines as well. It might be a better idea to drop the this superflulous round entirely, instruct the fitness women to include the compulsories from that round in their own routines and allow more of the bodybuilders their individual time on stage.
By the way, the women bodybuilders took the stage after two rounds of quarter turns by the fitness and figure competitors. You should have heard the applause that greeted them. After all, the ticket buyers for these shows are primarily a physique audience and no matter how attractive the fitness and figure women are what muscle they have is no very evident to people sitting 40 or 50 feet away. You can only see so many quarter turns before getting bored - and this goes for the judges, as well. Promoters take note: lots of people like fitness and figure bodies but bodybuilders have actual fans.
THE LIGHTWEIGHTS
There is no doubt going to be some surprise among fans
upon realizing that Denise Masino and Rosemary Jennings competed as lightweights. Visually,
both seem to be so muscular that you would think they'd be bigger. But
as the late Vince Gironda said, 'Bodybuilding is illusion." These
are women who are at a disadvantage in the middleweight division competing
against bodybuilders who are naturally bigger than they are. And,
unlike what sometimes happens in the amateurs, where many of the lightweights
are simply middleweights who haven't developed far enough, the NOC lightweights
were women with mature, solid muscle and made the class competition extremely
interesting and exciting.
I doubt there were many who didn't feel right from the start that Denise was going to take the class. Considering the demands of her business interests, including publishing Muscle Elegance, it is amazing how she has managed to show up in such good shape so often, particularly in the past few contests.
Rosemary Jennings was second - but she has the potential to be a lot better. If you like a lot of muscle in a small package, you have to be a fan of Rosemary's. But she still has room to make improvements in overall aesthetics and refinement of her physique. When she does that it is going to take a lot for anyone to beat her.
Marja Lehtonen was third, and she is somebody else who has the potential to be a champion - she's on the right track, has no major weaknesses. But she does tend to look a little blocky Maybe because she is so muscular that her waist develops as well as everything else. She also needs to pay more attention to her "overall appearance": hair and make-up, for example. The standards are high at the pro level - or at least ought to be. After you've built a physique you have to refine it and your total package.
The only controversy of any sort in this class was the low placing of Fannie Barrios. I can't say for certain that she deserved to be in the top 3. But I can vouch for the fact that, while the judges are impressed with her physique, they don't like the way she looks and that is a factor in how she is judged. I don't know how this could be much different, given that there is a large aesthetic component in bodybuilding and the rest of the competition is of such high quality, but it does make you wonder whether she can actually be judged fairly in IFBB contests. Time will tell and I wish her well. Fannie has an outstanding physique and has worked hard to get where she is.
MIDDLEWEIGHTS
The middleweight class consisted of only
four competitors, due obviously to many dropping down to the lightweights. To
some degree, so was the outcome. As far as
I could tell, most of the journalists and photographers I was sitting near
in the press area seemed to feel that Desiree Ellis would take the class. Instead,
it was won by Kim Harris.
There is certainly nothing wrong with Kim Harris. She is a sleek, attractive, aesthetic and elegant bodybuilder. The problem is that Kim has never really gotten a lot harder and denser as a pro compared to how she looked as an amateur. And if you look at the comparison photos (available in the subscriber area) she seems outdone in overall mass and density as well as in most body parts by Desiree. Evidently, the judges gave more importance to Kim's overall aesthetics (which are considerable) and were not as impressed at this show by Desiree. They certainly gave Kim first place in every round (insofar as we can tell, given that IFBB individual scores are kept secret).
If a judge prefers Kim to Desiree, that's fine. But then what's the point of all those posing comparisons where they are supposed to be making specific comparisons of each body part? That is supposed to be what bodybuilding judging is all about. At a certain point you have to have the muscle. In fact, some who were surprised by the outcome really expected first place to be a contest between Desiree and Jeannie Paparone, who ended up third.
Anyway, Kim is an excellent bodybuilder and looks terrific on stage. But I would like to see her gain a little more mature, solid muscle to make her truly competitive at the pro level. If she doesn't she made find herself disappointed in the future. But she certainly has everything else to make her deserving of being a top pro champion.
HEAVYWEIGHTS
Betty Viana won the heavyweight class, which
was no surprise. Betty
has been gradually improving every time she has competed and was right
on at the NOC in terms of physique and overall appearance. If I had
any criticism (and I did) it was in terms of her posing. Betty doesn't
hit and hold her poses. She frequently hits a pose so briefly that
the photographers can't get a photo of it - which means the judges can't
see it very well either. When you have a first class physique as
does Betty, you should make sure everyone else gets to see and appreciate
it.
The surprise of the class was second place Zdenka Razymova. Zdenka has a real potential for pro bodybuilding. She has a balanced physique with good symmetry and no major weaknesses. Her only problem at this point is she just isn't big, hard and dense enough (which you could see when she was compared with Betty Viana) but that is a matter of time and effort for her, just as it is for Kim Harris and many others. Zdenka also needs to work on the same kind of improvements in overall appearance as does Marja Lehtonen. Things like hair and make-up aren't the basis of bodybuilding, but at this level, with the competition so tough, you need to have everything going for you possible.
Zdenka Razymova was also the best poser in the contest. With too many women dancing to try and appear more "feminine" and others reluctant to hit and hold poses, she put together a routine of beautiful and unusual muscle poses that really got the audience involved and enthusiastic. Lets hope Zdenka inspires other women to follow her lead as did Ed Corney with the men in the 1970s.
FITNESS
The judging in fitness has gradually become more predictable, since the judges tend always to score in favor of the same individuals and the same kind of routines time after time. At Night of Champions, the only one of the top Olympia contenders entered was Kelly Ryan. So it was almost a foregone conclusion that she would win unless she hurt herself during the competition or an asteroid struck New York City.
Neither of these things happened.
The judges like Anna Level's physique best, but of course Kelly ran away with the 'cat suitÓ and performance rounds. Tracey Greenwood (high on my list of fitness women who should be bodybuilders) also placed high in physique. Little Nicole Rollolazo didn't do that well in physique - a living doll, but maybe just too small at less than 4'11" - but her routine incorporates a lot of highly energetic dance and is great to watch. They should prescribe Nicole as an anti-depressant.
There isn't really much to say about the judging in fitness, and there usually isn't. At this level all the women look great and even the more mediocre routines are displays of terrific athleticism. Of course, it isn't often you get to see Kim Lyons come out as a mermaid and morph into a naughty school girl flashing her white panties but that will keep you from zoning out sitting through one routine after another.
So far, the gradually killing off of fitness at the local NPC level hasn't affected the pros yet (nor the NPC national shows, for that matter) so we'll have to see what happens as more and more competitors move from fitness to figure to avoid having to compete in a national-class gymnasts contest and then quit altogether when they realize that figure isn't just fitness without the routine. We'll have to see what happens.
FIGURE
In the NOC figure contest four of the top six finalist were the same as four of the top six at the Figure International. This is in spite of the fact that there were 32 women entered in the contest, most of whom were not at the Arnold. It would appear that history is repeating what happened in fitness with figure - if you have no objective standards, you simply use past winners as a guide as to how to score the contest.
Not that there was anything wrong with the winners. Davana Medina (whom I once picked out sitting in a crowded auditorium before I knew who she was and asked, "WHO is THAT!") is a beautiful, fit woman with a great body. At the Arnold she lost to Jenny Lynn, who is a beautiful, fit woman with a great body. This time Davana placed ahead of Jenny. What changed in the interim? Beats me. Evidently the judges thought something did.
Mari Kudla is also a beautiful, fit woman with a great body. But she has a different kind of beautiful, fit body than the other finalists. Mari looks less like a leggy model than the others and more like an in-shape bikini girl. Nobody is complaining that she is placing well, but you do have to wonder how the judges deal with such an apples-and-oranges comparison.
Elaine Goodlad was sixth at the Arnold and placed fifth in NY. Elaine is also somewhat out of place in this lineup - for a different reason - because she has such an obviously muscular physique rather than looking like a fit model. Fine by me, I'm a physique fan, and I'd rather figure be about women like Elaine - but it's still puzzling in terms of understanding what kind of judging standards are being followed (figure, as a beauty contest, has no intrinsic "nature" but is all about imposed rules and arbitrary standards).
But put the top six aside and you still have 26 other women in the contest - all of them beautiful, fit women with great bodies. When you have a stage full of competitors like this, how do they get noticed since the judges seem already to have a preference to the same women they liked at the Arnold?
I guess that's always going to be a problem when you are staging a beauty contest with no real clear or objective criteria to go by and therefore no way to distinguish among competitors on the basis of some kind of merit or achievement. If the audience likes this kind of competition and is willing to pay to see it (which is why the NPC promoters got behind figure in the first place), all well and good. But women who decide to compete in figure, especially if they are moving over from bodybuilding or fitness because they believe it is 'easier,Ó had better give the matter careful though.
And as lovely as these women are, I have to wonder just how many quarter turns in high heels the audience is going to stay interested in and willing to pay to see over time. Especially if some promoters have their way and figure is added while female bodybuilding is eliminated so that ALL YOU GET IS ENDLESS QUARTER TURNS. Frightening thought. And at the NPC Jr. Nationals the federation included 4 separate classes of figure competition. The mind boggles.
COMPLETE PHOTO COVERAGE OF NOC "LADIES NIGHT"
IN SUBSCRIBER AREA