1999 Jan Tana (IFBB Bodybuilding)
By Jabber


We only had one no-show for the IFBB Bodybuilding competition, and that
would've been Christi Wolf's Pro debut.  I'd heard various reasons, the most
prevalent of which was that her WCW commitments either prohibited her
competing or simply prevented her from getting ready for this contest.

In 20th place was the always thick Argentinean, Maria Calo.  Her abs seemed
a bit off from their granite-like quality displayed at the Women's Pro
World, however.  In 19th place was Donna Logue.  This was a tough show
indeed, as I felt all the competitors displayed intense muscularity, and
personally felt Donna looked a bit better (more aesthetic symmetry) than I'd
previously seen her at.  In 18th place was Yurie Iijima, someone who I'm
always more impressed with than the judges (and most others).  This thick
Japanese woman (that in itself should get her points), is always improving,
albeit slowly.  

In 17th place was a total unknown to me, Fanny Josefina Barrios.  She shared
two things with the great Ms. Oriquen, 1) they're both from Venezuela, and
2) they both had very vocal men in the audience yelling out in Spanish to/at
them nearly constantly.  I thought she had a neat, well-balanced physique,
but my personal favorite was her neat color combination (yellow posing suit
for one show, orange for the other, golden tan, and golden hair).  Weirdly,
though, she picked a very light lipstick (seemed white from a distance),
that all we saw was this white lower lip.  I strangely thought of the
commercial, "Got milk?" even though it wasn't on her upper lip. :-)  I do
think the intense yelling in the audience of instructions, etc., got a bit
ridiculous.  To me it almost signified that her trainer didn't trust her to
do a damn thing without yelling instructions every two seconds at her.
Sorry for being opinionated there...  (but it will happen again...)

In 16th was the very wide, but somewhat softish Viviana Violante.  She
should be the poster child for wide lats, beating out some incredibly wide
lats of others to take that title.  In 15th was the criminally overlooked
Angela Debatin from Brazil.  She, too had a cute color combination with her
yellow bikini, tan skin and slightly darker hair.  She reminded me, this
time around, of the great Pastory Munoz (remember her?), and Ms. Debatin has
an excellent rear biceps shot that takes a backseat to no one.  Judges,
please notice this gem next time.  Yow!

In 14th was the very thick Mary Ellen Jerumbo from El Paso.  In 13th was
Lynea Brehm, who appeared good, like at the World Pro's, but no better.  In
12th was Denise Gerard, who, other than having marginally softer abs (still
pretty good), pretty much appears similar to the way she did at the Amateur
level.  Not sure how much higher she can place without "appearing like a
Pro", whatever that means.

In 11th was a previous unknown to me, Merete Hornnes, from the land of
double-consonants, Norway.  A bit streamlined looking for an fbb, she,
nevertheless had great abs that I didn't forget that easily.  In 10th was
the leg-poser, Tracy Sackmann.  In 9th was Dayana Cadeau, who I used to not
like her physique.  Now I have to say, not bad, not bad at all.  In 8th was
one of the cutest competitors, Cathy LeFrancois, sporting another flattering
hairdo.  Somewhat overlooked, not everyone notices that she has world-class
muscular forearms.  Check them out next time you see a pic of her.

In 7th place was a very well-balanced woman named Monica Martin.  A certain
someone, who shall remain nameless, stated she's the only woman from Brazil
who can't dance.  Whether that's true or not, her posing routine was a
virtual riot (I was actually laughing).  It seemed to capitalize on her lack
of rhythm (which I think is exaggerated - she probably has great rhythm).
Basically she walked purposefully from one part of the stage to the next,
and lip-exercised (kind of like lip-syncing but doing faux exercise
maneuvers instead of faux singing).  I was marveling that if Ray Martin was
there, all he needs to do is package her routine - same thing - ha!
Memorable, to me...

In 6th place was Amy Pazzo, who some had hoped would finish a bit better.
Now, to me, an attractive and polished Pro, with a nice amount of mass, I
felt there were at least 5 others with better symmetry and similar
conditioning and mass that I wasn't unhappy with that finish.  Too bad the 5
others I had in mind didn't coincide 100% with the judges ideas.  In 5th
place was Peggy Schoolcraft.  I, among others, were scratching my head as to
why she was in the top 5.  She has excellent, tight abs that she can
compress very tightly (if she posed them more), but otherwise, hey symmetry
was not nearly as good as others finishing far below her.  Her conditioning
was good, however.  

In 4th place was a very thick Betty Pariso, also from the great Dallas-Ft.
Worth Metroplex (eat your heart out Southern California - ha!).  I
personally felt her aesthetics were a bit better at the show in Detroit.
Her arms were very pumped relaxed (incredibly so), but didn't do much when
she flexed.  This seemed true of the rest of her body, too - a bit
over-pumped?  If there is such a thing.  

Let me get this out of the way, in the top 3 were three outstanding
competitors, ANY of which was deserving of the 1999 Jan Tana crown.  With
that said, I personally agreed with the judges 100% here.  In 3rd was the
incredible Valentina Chepiga, from the Ukraine.  I'd seen pics of her in WPW
before.  Forget them, she was FAR better than any previous pics seen.
Perfect symmetry, she appeared almost a bit slight, if it wasn't for one
thing:  how can a woman with muscles from head to toe appear slight?  A
woman from the audience was babbling how much she liked Ms. Chepiga
(compared to the others) because she retained femininity and such, and was
in good condition.  While I may not agree that she had the only feminine
presence there, indeed Valentina made her presence known resoundingly with
symmetry and poise and a bunch of other good stuffs...

In 2nd place was the other competitor from Venezuela, you may have heard of
her, Yaxeni Oriquen?  Need I go on.  Her cheering section almost eclipsed
the traditional -jabber clapping for this young lady.  Notice I said almost.
Both her and the winner of the show, I felt came in with wider, thicker
lats, than at the World Pro.  Not that Yaxeni needs to work on her upper
body (as it's always fabulous), this was a welcome pleasant improvement,
indeed.  At the World Pro, I'd talked to Yaxeni, and suggested she needs to
pose her legs more, not just when she poses her upper body during her free
posing.  The judges ALWAYS see what a fine upper body she has, but she needs
to show them she's proud of her legs, too (not just her hamstrings - which
she always posed to good effect).  Heck, although her upper body STILL is
her best feature, her thighs are quite formidable.  Show that to the judges.
Heck, shake your thigh a la Sharon Marvel style.  Show off your calves, too.

Was that good advice?  Hmm...  I was very pleasantly surprised to see she
actually DID follow that advice and incorporated cues and poses that showed
off her legs, like she was proud of them, during her free posing routine.
As the -jabber gushed with pride, she finished the highest she's ever
finished at a Pro show.  Was that good advice?  I'll let you decide...

In 1st place was the former Brit who makes her home in Columbus, Ohio
(famous for the Ms. International), Gayle Moher.  As with Yaxeni Gayle also
showed up with noticeably pumped up lats.  Other than her lats, Gayle's
biggest downfall is she's so well-balanced, NO one muscle (or muscle group)
screams out, that's incredible, wow!  So in a show of this caliber, that's a
good thing.  Humorously, after the show, I saw Gayle, and I asked her, "So,
did you make top 5?" :-)

Since I know her, I'd told her after Prejudging that I think she's got this
show.  And I reminded her, I DON'T say things like that to be nice, that's
actually what I felt.  Hmm...  I'd hate to be known as someone who says
something nice just for the helluvit. :-)

Until next review...

-jabber