2000 IFBB Ms. Olympia Bodybuilding and Fitness, a -jabber review... by -jabber Preamble: As The Rock would say, "Finally The Ms. Olympia Has Come Back To Las Vegas" (well the bodybuilding - the fitness only was there last year). And, in my opinion, that's a good idea to hold all three of these shows (Ms. O Bodybuilding, Ms. O Fitness, and Mr. Olympia (is that bodybuilding or fitness, I'm not sure, I've never seen one - lol) together. The playground for adults known as Las Vegas is ALWAYS a good place to travel to, Mandalay Bay is a nice hotel - when the elevators aren't plummeting 30 floors (inside joke), and the Events Center is a big place - perfect for a big event, or events. And Vegas in October is nice. August? Not so nice. The biggest question in my mind was how the HECK were they going to do the bodybuilding prejudging, the bodybuilding finals, AND all rounds of the fitness competition at the night show only, starting at 7:00 pm??? There was NO prejudging during the day whatsoever - previously, to me, unheard of - unless the judging was completely decided upon/fixed (perish the thought). Turns out, the evening show moved at a quick pace, with NO intermission (intermissions are good for mingling - while all the folks are there - not coming or going :-) ), and in my opinion, the judging was reasonably good - surprisingly so considering a couple nasty rumors floating around - see comments below where applicable. I think this show was doable all at once mainly because it wasn't a "huge" field, with 13 competitors in the fitness and 12 total competitors in the bodybuilding (5 lightweight and 7 heavyweight) showing up. I personally think NOT having an overall - if they're going to have weight classes is a mistake, but... Overall Atmosphere: In a way, I was glad there WASN'T prejudging at noon or earlier in the day on Friday (the show was Friday evening, October 20th) because I was in Newport Beach, CA on business, driving madly through the Mojave in my rental -jabbermobile (Kia Sephia) to make it in time for the evening show. There were two days of expo, not unlike that at the Arnold Expo in Columbus, only smaller, and supposedly some Muscle Beach escapades/shows at the Mandalay Bay, but I must've missed those. Saw a "bit" of the expo on Friday (about a half hour) and a couple hours on Saturday. Lots and lots of very attractive somewhat to reasonably muscular women there, with a couple true standouts. By NO means is this a complete list. In no particular order: A friend of mine named Heidi (of www.heidiflex.com), a "local" to Las Vegas who'd been in a local show - natural bodybuilder - recently. She wasn't sure if she would "fit in" with the big names there. Hmm, obviously she did. I took a few pictures of her at the expo, and as soon as I got her to pose, looked like a press conference broke out, bunch of schmoos (and I mean that pleasantly) started snapping away from the other direction, too. :-) Perhaps the most impressive at the Expo, Yaxeni Oriquen, strangely standing at a booth and not gathering any attention. I talked to her, got Heidi to pose with her and voila, a line started at Yaxeni's booth. Cool! The very tall Gabrielle Hames, also a Las Vegas local, with her friend Moe of NABF promotion fame. Strangely, Gabrielle asked me if I wanted my hair pulled out (since I'd not gotten a haircut recently), uh, no. Tatianna Butler got her share of attention at the expo, as well as Gina/Sable and Melissa Coates. The very thin version of Sharon Bruneau also was there. I say the old Sharon Bruneau could beat up the new Sharon Bruneau without breaking a sweat.. :-) Also got a chance to meet and talk with Trudy Ireland for the first time, as well as Valentina Chepiga, who spoke very little English. Speaking a bit "more" English, and maybe the gem of the expo was Susanne Niederhauser (of www.susanneniederhauser.com), truly incredible, you could spot her abs a mile away (well from clear across the expo, anyway). She gathered plenty of attention from those gents at GMV (Gallasch Muscle Video), impeccable taste they have. Fitness: 13) Lisa Lowe 12) Stacy Simons 11) Shena Forkner 10) Melissa Frabbriele 9) Lena Johannesen 8) Klaudia Kinska 7) Jenny Hendershott 6) Shannon Meteraud 5) Adelina Friedmansky 4) Timea Majorova 3) Jennifer Worth 2) Kelly Ryan 1) Susie Curry I'm not going to comment on every single girl here, but Shena Forkner (from the DFW Metroplex) looked exceptionally strong with many strength moves incorporated into her routine. One of my favorite "new" fitness women is the exotic looking Klaudia Kinska, and one of the few I fully paid attention to. :-) It says she's from Slovakia, but Ms. Kinska has a VERY exotic mixed look to her, and incorporates very sexy dancing in a non T&A way into her routine. Cousin in crime from Slovakia, Timea Majorova looks big enough to play bodyguard to the other little girls. I've seen Timea looking better in years gone by (meaning more muscular), but worse last year - so this year, her look was a slight improvement, IMO. Perhaps the most stellar routine (along with physique) came in the form of Jennifer Worth, my pic on who should've won the show. With a pink two-piece fluorescent outfit - when the lights went down, all eyes were on her (with rock-hard abdominals separating her pink top from her pink shorts). Perhaps the most high-flying well-executed routine came form the "nearly" as impressive physiquewise Kelly Ryan. I thought certainly Ms. Worth and Ms. Ryan should've been 1 and 2, in that order, but wouldn't have been upset if it was reversed. Instead, the judges saw the half-Vietnamese/half-Irish Susie Curry as the winner. I can't remember her routine for the life of me. :-) Lightweight (up to 135 lbs.): 5) Jennifer McVicar 4) Cathy Priest (nee LeFrancois) 3) Renee Casella 2) Brenda Raganot 1) Andrulla Blanchette The nasty rumor (well one of them) was that Jennifer McVicar from Oklahoma who won the '00 USA's (IMO undeservedly) was given the special invite to the Ms. O so she could WIN the lightweight class. I certainly would've walked out in disgust if that did happen. Instead, she fairly got 5th in a field of 5. Although not quite Olympia caliber, Ms. McVicar is quite an attractive young lady with relatively decent thickness and did an admirable job of dieting down from her off-season look she was sporting as recently as September 9th at the Red River Classic. That did surprise me. However, her glutes and hamstrings were soft; you can find better glutes and hamstrings on stage at any of the many clubs around Vegas (sorry that was mean - but true). Cathy LeFrancois (I can't call her Priest), generally one of the cutest competitors ever seen seemed to have left some of that cuteness at home. Plus it looks like she stole Denise Hoshor's Pro-Tan, or Dream-Tan - using a bit too much. The very muscular looking Renee Casella was outclassed in symmetry by the top 2. My personal favorite FBB Brenda Raganot, nearly outclassed Andrulla except for one thing, Brenda's biceps were lagging something fierce. Brenda's biceps were really good at the '99 Ms. O and the '99 WSE Pro Event, slightly less "good" at the '00 Ms. I (but I DO feel then she deserved the nod over Andrulla then), and slightly worse in Vegas this year. Although her upper torso, shoulders, posture, etc., are second to none - not to mention you can see her abs ripple from across the Events Center, somehow, the judges got this lightweight class perfectly judged. Andrulla just keeps getting better and better, she put on a fantastic look, never thought I could be blown away by someone I've seen over and over again, but she was THAT damn good! Heavyweight (over 135 lbs.): 7) Th-resa Bostick 6) Denise Hoshor 5) Iris Kyle 4) Yaxeni Oriquen 3) Lesa Lewis 2) Vickie Gates 1) Valentina Chepiga Ms. Bostick has a great wide back with great lats. Beyond that, the other women simply outclassed her here. Denise Hoshor should be angry at Ms. LeFrancois for stealing her Tan, because Ms. Hoshor looked incredible, if it wasn't for her missing tan. Even WITH the pale skin, you could see the definition in her thighs, etc. Ms. Hoshor DEFINITELY improved, IMO from her appearance at the Ms. I earlier this year - her first Pro show, and IMO a slightly disappointing first appearance for a new Pro who holds lots of promise. Regardless of where she finished at the Ms. I compared to the Ms. O? She was much better in Vegas (other than that tan thang). The one true guffaw in judging was Iris Kyle's placing. She's been working smart, improving her weaknesses, such as her calves, to SUCH an extent they are no longer weaknesses, but strengths. She's not "attractive" enough looking? Hogwash, she's softened her hairstyle and looked certainly competitive facially with the others at the Ms. O, IMO. Her condition was stellar, and 5th was a travesty here for her. My personal favorite in the heavyweights, Yaxeni Oriquen finally dialed in her legs to match her incredible upper body - well pretty much. Posing her legs quite a lot, a few folks in the audience were commenting on her incredible thighs - that's saying something for someone who's known for her upper body. Yaxeni was sporting a Gayle Moher-esque hairdo (perhaps because Gayle wasn't there and some folks may have missed her? :-) ), possibly a personal best appearance physiquewise for Ms. Oriquen (watch for her to win the Jan Tana in '01 - mark my words). Lesa Lewis, the MASSIVE one, was a bit more streamlined than usual, perhaps to keep her definition up? Look what that did to Ms. Kyle! Sheesh. I've seen Ms. Lewis a bit more impressive than this, most notably when she won the Jan Tana a couple years back. VERY surprising, but I was delighted, was when Ms. Vickie Gates was announced 2nd, NOT 1st. The "other" nasty rumor was that she was being groomed, politically to win. Of course, I hate politics, and was glad to see common sense take hold here. Ms. Gates' upper body, as usual was quite impressive, but her symmetry paled in comparison to everyone in her class except Ms. Bostick. I won't comment on the marketability or lack thereof if Ms. Gates won - or maybe I did? The stellar and only clear-cut winner of the '00 Jan Tana, in the middleweights, Valentina Chepiga, now in the heavyweights at the Ms. O, had a delightful look. Incredible symmetry and a combination of LOTS of things that just make her a great FBB at this time - old judging standard, new judging standard, whathaveyou, this was NOT a bad decision, IMO. Of course I'm curious why each year Ms. Chepiga's nose appears wider (quit the prize fighting, Valentina! lol), otherwise, she's very attractive facially also. The sleeping judges did "okay" here, but my pics would've been 7) Th-resa, 6) Vickie, 5) Denise, 4) Lesa, 3) Yaxeni, 2) Valentina, 1) Iris. Overall Observations: One thing that I thought was VERY screwy was the fact that the VIP and/or the Press folks - the ones with zoom lenses thicker than mine (lol) were seated in FRONT of the judging table. And at times the judges didn't look that "attentive", compared to say some NPC shows I've been to. With that said, I WAS again pleasantly surprised the judging was passably good, i.e. not atrocious. I didn't recognize him (although I DO know of him), someone said the host was Mike Adamle - I remember him from hosting American Gladiators in years gone by. Unfortunately, he was pretty damn atrocious as an M.C., IMO. But not so much so to detract from the show that much. When Monica Brant came out, he did some inane forgettable banter with her. I think he tried to do the same with Kim Chizevsky, too, but it didn't seem to fly too well. Interesting, I'd already seen Ms. Chizevsky's new "streamlined" look, but for those who haven't, I heard gasps in the audience. I'm curious why folks seem to think that switching from bodybuilding to fitness is a viable career path. I see no successful role models in that switch, do you? Why not just retire if they don't think it's right for them to continue competitive bodybuilding? And you can't fault them there if they so chose to retire. Lastly, I saw one other celebrity that I DIDN'T see at the Ms. O, nor at the Expo, but simply walking around the Mandalay Bay. Ms. Juliette Bergmann. Why can't every retired FBB look that good? She was truly phenomenal looking - and I rarely say that. Really I don't. :-) Until next time, I remain... -jabber