2000 Emerald Cup (Bodybuilding)
By -jabber


You can talk about fitness vs. bodybuilding all you like, but this was the
reason for the show.  The reason the show was worth seeing.  Watching a
woman purposely and deliberately flex her muscles is just so much more
memorable than slighter women flitting across the stage doing relatively
forgettable routines.  Enough editorializing, that was the -jabber of '99,
this is '00...

Masters Women:
Forgive me if I go too slow - oops, wrong song - forgive me if I don't
recall if 35 or 40 is the age cutoff for the Masters class in a Washington
State show, but let me tell you.  Neither is old.  We had a lot of vibrant
young looking women in this class showing nice muscle maturity.  With that
said, I can't read my GD notes, so I'll pass on mentioning how they
finished, sorry. :-)

Lightweight Women:
In 5th was Silvia Zabel from Olympia, WA, and in 4th was a dream come true
for many of us.  Wouldn't you love to see a very sexy muscular Asian fitness
competitor decide to bulk up and go into bodybuilding?  Is that not a dream
of ours?  Well one of 'em anyway? :-)  Well, although the "bulk up" part
applied loosely, I took plenty of pics of the ultra sexy Dina dela Llana
from Bellevue, WA, almost before she hit the stage.  She received 4th,
although, from a bodybuilding standpoint, I think that was a gift.  She was
smoothish (still somewhat visible abs - when other women's abs jumped out).
While her visage is stirring, she's got a way to go in bodybuilding if she
chooses to continue in it.  But I wholeheartedly applaud her decision (as
did the appreciative audience).

In 3rd was an ultra-cute Heidi Martin from Anchorage, AK.  Basically that's
where the -jabber camera was transfixed. :-)  Sporting much better
definition than Dina, she still appeared a bit slight for her class.  Very
marketable look, watch for her in the future.  In 2nd was Kathy Pullin from
Centralia, WA.  Nice muscle all over, closely battling with Linda Vaughan
(someone told me her name was actually spelled "Von" - but I'm going by the
roster that the Emerald Cup considerately provides) who was so good and
confident, she could've entered the Masters and be content with an easy win.
Instead she chose to whip the competition in this class.  Very thick up
close (arms especially) and no implants.  I was in a good mood.

Middleweight Women:
In 5th was Marisa Mancke from Kirkland, WA.  In 4th was Cindy Dowies from
Centralia, WA.  Nice pleasing symmetry, but this was a gift.  Her
conditioning was less than most of the fitness competitors, not to mention
even her muscle sizes - Lisa Maree Dixon from the fitness was better.  Okay,
first goof by the judges.  Still, reasonably polite audience (unlike the
NJ/NYC folks :-) ).  

Get ready.  In 3rd place was the uncrowned winner of this class (opinion
shared by nearly everyone I spoke with including Steve Wennerstrom - uh, I
think he has a good eye for this kind of thing, don't you?).  The
half-Oriental Lore Shimamura from SeaTac, WA was one of the most captivating
FBB's I've seen in a long time.  And she was fantastic!  Conditioning as
hard as a Tac (pun intended), abs, pointy peaked biceps (some of the best
pointiest biceps in the show), attractive facially, nice grooming, hairstyle
(if those things are important in the so-called new judging criteria - I'm
still unaware of the effect that's supposed to have on shows of this
caliber).

-jabber was unpleased.  As soon as she was announced 3rd, being only in the
third row, I started a "boo" that 1) was immediately followed by others of
like mind who also thought this was a joke and the biggest travesty in a
long time, and 2) I found myself somewhat hoarse the rest of the evening,
and 3) I even said loud enough for the judges to hear, "What the hell were
you looking at?"  Hey, displeasure is signified by boisterousness at these
shows.  I got the Seattle audience to realize it's "okay" to boo John Tuman
and company (head judge).  Plus, Lore seemed flattered afterwards when I
told her I started the booing chorus.  That made it worth it.

Why so vehement?  The 2nd place winner, Avis Mailey from Bellevue, WA was an
attractive black woman, nicely groomed, etc., etc. (new criteria stuffs?)
who facially resembled Kim Harris a bit.  But her physique was FAR inferior
to Ms. Shimamura in every way.  Legs sadly lacking her upper body, which
sadly lacked the fine 3rd placer.  Sheesh!

I wasn't too upset about 1st place winner, Yumi Sekine from Bellevue, WA.
Yumi was "fully" Oriental while Lore was only half.  Yumi had a nicely
balanced physique but not quite as dynamic of a presence as Lore.  As Steve
Wennerstrom pointed out to me, it looks like Avis benefited from the "new
criteria" with attention to grooming facial beauty, etc., but they didn't
follow their criteria for the 1st placer.  Hmm...  I say the judging was
simply <expletive deleted> in this class. :-)

Heavyweight Women:
In 5th place was Amy Rainaldo from Lynnwood, WA.  Last year, she gained the
attention of WPW and company, among others, for her refined model-like look,
if not slight musculature for a heavyweight.  Last year, MONDO muscular
powerhouse Anna Marie Onesti outmuscled everyone to win the overall.  This
year, I looked at the bulked up Amy and said she's trying to become Anna
Marie Onesti minus the definition.  Yep, on stage she appeared smooth and
unimpressive.  She's a very attractive brunette with now nice mass, but
horror of horrors, for the evening show, her routine really showed no muscle
shots, she just tried to be sexy, and I basically put my camera down.  

But up close, when Steve was talking to her at length after the show, she
was amazing looking up close (complete with a nice pointy left bicep peak
she showed off a couple times).  The variability between on-stage and up
close is amazing actually.  BTW, the stupid -jabber didn't connect this
until later, but if anyone is a lift and carry fan (I'm not but I can
appreciate it), Amy Rainaldo has an absolutely amazing video offered by
Builtmore called Airborne.  She could embarrass Dawn Riehl in her overhead
lift capabilities (yes, I was astonished by this).  Check it out, you won't
be disappointed.  

In 4th place was the short-haired Gerri Deach from Centralia, WA.  In 3rd
was Wendy Tompkins from SeaTac, WA.  In 2nd was the very thick and muscular
Tona Rose from Elk Grove, CA.  She looked reminiscent of a shorter Karla
Nelson physique-wise.  Her thickness was something else (and I'm not easily
impressed).  

The judges, evidently smarting from their middleweight faux pas got their
act together and announced blonde Sheila Bleck from Gresham, OR in 1st
place.  Back at prejudging, before she even started to pose, I announced,
she's gonna win the show.  Trust me, I've been wrong plenty of times before
(I remember announcing that Ronnie Coleman would never win Mr. Olympia
because his symmetry was not good enough - that eating crow prediction was
made summer of '98 :-) ), but I was right this time.

While not out-muscling Tona Rose, Ms. Bleck was refined WITH a nice amount
of mass.  She reminded me a bit of a slightly less massive Kim Walters (who
won the Emerald Cup herself years ago), throw in the astonishing refined and
sexy Crystal Pember (remember her?), and a dollop of Liz Karp (thanks for
the hint - that one goes to Mr. Wennerstrom), mix well, and you got Sheila
Bleck.  Unfortunately, for the finals, her abs were flat, but we saw what
she had at prejudging.  

Rightfully so, she got the overall, too.  I think we'll be seeing more of
Ms. Bleck in the future.  Trust me, she's much more attractive than her last
name may indicate. :-)

As an aside, like with the variability between the on-stage Amy Rainaldo and
the up close one, at prejudging, I happened to sit next to an attractive
short-haired blonde woman named Megan Wilaby.  By the oiled up and extremely
dark tanned arms she was sporting, she was in the show.  From up close,
while not veiny, her arms were delightfully shaped, really attractive.
After she left to go backstage, I asked her boyfriend (who was also in the
show) what class she's in.  He said Heavyweight.  Huh?  That little thing?

Point is before I lose y'all (what, too late? :-) ) is on-stage, her
physique was lost amongst the much more stellar ones.  About the only thing
noticeable was she DID have a nice rich dark tan to contrast with her short
blonde hair.  But physiquewise she looked not special.  All the competitors
you see look fabulous up close, even the ones who finish toward the bottom
of their class -that's the point I was making.  Compared to the general
populace, all are phenomenal and winners, even the ones I trash in these
reviews. :-)