1999 Jan Tana (IFBB Fitness)
By Jabber


Well, since I have the benefit of the official IFBB Pro Scorecards, at least
I'll get the spelling correct here. :-)  

No shows (who were in the Jan Tana Official Program) were Marie Allegro,
Amanda Blank (guess since she won the Women's Pro World it made no sense to
show up and possibly not get 1st again), one of my new favorites, Melissa
Frabbiele (shucks, wanted to see her win this one since Amanda Blank was
nowhere around), the incredible-looking Dina dela Llana, Terri Ann Phippen,
and Lovena Stamatiou-Tuley.

Briefly, in 20th place, was Amy Yanagisawa, the Japanese competitor who
currently hails from New York.  Arguably the most attractive competitor
facially at the contest, her body lagged behind many others on the
muscularity front (if you're into yucky muscles on women - LOL).
Unfortunately, 1) Jim Manion, the MC, botched the pronunciation of the very
cute Ms. Yanagisawa's last name with reckless abandon that evening, and 2)
she withdrew from the competition due to some unnamed injury, so we didn't
see her evening performance.  But, she came out to say hi to the audience,
looking quite chipper, just the same.  For what it's worth, she was going
about 12th place pace if you look at the first three rounds of scoring.

In 19th place was Jacqueline DeGennaro.  Like at the Women's Pro World this
former fbb has a muscular body that far exceeds her still bland routine.  In
18th place was Valentina Ferrari, an Italian with a cute and striking face,
but only a fair body amongst this tough crowd.  In 17th place was June
Monroe, from my current hometown of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex.  Always
I see slight improvements with her each time she competes.  

In 16th place was Ursula Buckanes-Henry.  Generally, her routine and classy
facial features outclass her physique.  But of late, someone must've told
her to work on her lats.  Because, sheesh, were they better than ever.  Her
routine always involves doing a split straddling two chairs that slide apart
during her routine.  Quite the attention getter, although I've seen her many
times previously.  In 15th place was another favorite of mine, Min Kim, who
I feel is routinely underrated.  One of the strongest competitors
(physically), hopefully her placings will begin to improve.  In 14th place
was the great-conditioned Karen Konyha.

In 13th place was Maria Bellando.  Although extremely attractive and lean
(excellent abs), I felt she looked a bit better at the Women's Pro Worlds.
In 12th place was someone I'd never seen before, Laurie Vaniman.  I was
impressed by her very streamlined torso.  In 11th place Melony Petika.  In
10th place was Canadian Stephanie Worsfold, greeted by that one-man cheering
section known as Tre'. :-)

Finishing 9th was a woman who just exudes class, Lisa Lowe.  Two bad I
haven't seen her exude higher finishes.  When she first joined the pro
ranks, I expected her to tear things up.  In 8th was another favorite of
mine from the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, the very good, powerful-looking,
and super-energetic blonde, Shena Forkner.  This is someone to watch.  In
7th was someone else I'd seen plenty in magazines and videos, but never in
person: Karen Hulse.  She looked like a strong competitor (physically) in
person.

In 6th was someone known for her abs, Cynthia Hill.  Curiously her abs in
the past few shows I'd seen her in she must have left home.  For this show,
she took them with her, and I was happy.  In 5th place was the
double-jointed Stacy Simmons.  This very cute young black woman had the
distinction of having the widest muscular lats in the fitness competition.
I could stare at them all day.

In 4th place was the a competitor with a newly-elongated last name, Laura
Makowski.  In previous shows, she was known as Mak, as in Mak Attack.
Interesting.  Not the thickest competitor, she did appear muscular and toned
on stage though.  Luckily I found her music a bit less annoying than her
choices in previous shows.  Interestingly, I'd seen her at the little
Roanoke airport the day after the contest.  It was interesting how muscular
(and reasonably large) her arms looked off-stage.  Indeed, I was pleasantly
surprised.

In 3rd place was a natural-born performer, Marietta Zigalova, from Slovakia.
She appeared similar to in the Detroit show (in other words, great), and
does some maneuvers not seen by others.  To my knowledge, until the World
Pro's, she was a virtual unknown in this country (certainly to me she was).


In 2nd place was the ultra-tight Jennifer Worth.  Incredible conditioning,
she came out in a jungle outfit (not quite as revealing as the jungle
outfits Timea Majorova used to wear though), and I think did some fitness
moves.  I wasn't paying attention to anything but her incredibly
hard-looking muscles.  I mumbled under my breath, I wish she'd pose her abs
for the audience, bodybuilding-style, they look phenomenal.  But, alas,
fitness girls don't do that.  What's that?  She must've heard me and flexed
her abs for all to see.  Needless to say, at that point, I fell out of my
chair. :-)

Not to be outdone, in 1st place was the high flying front-runner, Kelly
Ryan.  Although I don't remember it well, she DID have a good routine, and
was in great muscular condition herself.  I was reasonably happy with the
judging for the Fitness IFBB show.  Was I as happy for the Bodybuilding IFBB
judging?  Stay tuned...