IFBB Women's Pro World (Fitness): By Jabber Our esteemed MC for this event was Kenny Kassel. He encouraged the otherwise mild-mannered and sedate audience, because he's from NY and that it's a sporting event, hoots and hollers and the like are not only permissible, but encouraged. A nice way to loosen up the crowd in general, IMO. Non-top 10 placers: Yeah, yeah, hope you don't skim this, we know y'alls like them big girls better (so do I), but I found the fitness women interesting nonetheless - hope you're still with me. 19 Fitness Women, among the non-top 10 placers, we had the blonde Jacqueline De Gennaro, one of the newest defectors from bodybuilding to fitness. She still looked pretty muscular, and had a very bland fitness routine unfortunately. Speaking of bland (allow me to digress), Jacqueline came out first during the prejudging during her fitness routine with a black long-sleeve leotard (long legged, too) and I thought, what a sucky choice for outfits! But I watched her routine figuring she kind of did a Sharon Bruneau poor choice of fitness outfits (know what I'm talking about?). Then the second one came out, same outfit, then the third! I thought, this sucks and walked out in disgust. Although I never heard the official word, I guess for judging, they wanted to judge the maneuvers the women performed only and not be distracted by either a great or poor attire choice. Possibly a good judging move, but bad for the audience. Luckily the top 10 folks got to do their routine again, but in colorful (and very sexy) outfits. Also outside the top 10 were Milamar Sarcev (formerly Flores), she must've tied the knot with the very lucky Milo Sarcev (I'd known they were boyfriend-girlfriend), Ursula Henry (no more Buckanes), Valentina Ferrari (a new face from Italy), Shena Forkner (from my current hometown of Dallas - familiar face, as usual, a thick and strong-looking small blonde), Min Kim (always a favorite of mine), Dina Dela Liana (a picture-perfect cute girl originally from the Philippines, quite a coincidence, I actually met her back in early 1998 in the great city of Dallas, when she was visiting - small world - if I knew she wasn't going to be top 10, I would've stuck around to watch her routine, despite those bland unrevealing black outfits - oh well!), Amanda Doherty (lone competitor from Australia), and Lisa Lowe, an attractive and classy young black lady who I'd thought was going to tear up the fitness world, but so far, I'm wrong. :-( Between 6th and 10th place: Between 6th and 10th place (I don't know their exact placings) were the following: Maria Bellando, a very cute and thin brunette from Miami. Truly this may have been the best photo op I botched but DID see. When I did NOT have my camera (between the prejudging and the finals), at the Novi Doubletree host hotel, I saw Ms. Bellando (didn't know who it was at the time) lying on her stomach on the carpeted lobby floor with a red shirt on, pulled up to expose her very taut-looking oh so lean midsection from the back. Straddled on top of her was a female friend of hers who looked like a strong off-season fitness girl wearing a dark sleeveless top, giving her a back massage. Good thing the -jabber didn't have his camera or he would've dropped it! Then I continued walking a bit further, turned around to take another glance at this lovely duo from a different angle. Lo and behold, the massage was over, Maria was on her feet, and she raised red shirt to reveal to her friend perfectly defined washboard abs, then posed them like fitness women NEVER do (but in my world they would). Incredible, I was VERY disappointed this energetic young lady didn't make the top-5. Also there was Laura Mak from Atlanta, GA (who won the tall class at the Nationals but lost the overall to Amanda Blank), who had the distinction of choosing disjoint, annoying music, in my opinion. Never a favorite of mine but of some others, was Stephanie Worsfold from London, Ontario, Canada, BUT I have to give her credit, she was in really good shape, better than I'd ever seen her. Unfortunately her shape was MUCH better than her routine. As with many others, it was Melony Petika's pro debut, and she did in her routine a Marilyn Monroe parody (complete with blonde wig and white dress). She looked absolutely so CUTE doing this routine. The excellent shape defined Karen Konyha from Columbus, OH also placed outside the top 5. The top 5 placers: In 5th place was Marietta Zegolova from Slovakia, she was a muscular brunette and chose music snippets from the movie Strip Tease. Basically she did a strip tease parody (without removing all her clothes), showing a body most of us would love for all strippers to have. She showed great stage presence, but obviously was a complete unknown in this country and I was a bit surprised at her "high" placing. In 4th was the attractive light-skinned black girl from NJ named Stacy Simons. I'd seen her before a couple times. Not "ripped", but she always appears wide and fairly muscular for a fitness competitor. As usual, her double-jointedness draws the audience's attention very nicely. In 3rd place was my personal favorite to win the show, but I knew this just wouldn't be. The blonde Melissa Frabielle from Ypsilanti, MI (I LOVE that name) is experienced, I've seen her at many shows she just gets smoother and better at each one. During her routine she wore a very sexy blue halter and long slacks (we don't need to see those legs do we? :-) ), and was a joy to watch. But I figured she'd get 2nd since the next competitor was so good. Well, the polite Michigan "almost" booed this decision, as Kelly Ryan from Los Angeles, THE favorite in the show, and her pro debut was announced 2nd. Looking better (meaning more muscular and defined) than I'd ever seen her she did mucho fancy flying maneuvers I thought I was watching Lucha Libre - ha! Why the judges still had socks on after her routine I don't know. I, and some others in the audience, politely walked out in disgust (the bodybuilding judging was already done) when Amanda Blank was announced (my choice for 3rd, maybe) first. From Daytona, she did a Madonna lookalike routine which was mildly cute. She did look in slightly more muscular shape than I've seen her before, and she has phenomenal abs that I could look at all day, but still and all. I'll say it again, I'm drawing a COMPLETE Blank as to how in the hell she finished that high. There's a difference between subjective judging and poor judging. Luckily of late, in bodybuilding it seems to be they've elevated themselves from poor to subjective. Fitness isn't so lucky... yet...