Another slam-bang Arnold Classic weekend went down in Columbus, Ohio, on March 2 through 4. They keep adding sports and changing the name of this mammoth meeting of the fit and fabulous—now known as the Arnold Sports Festival—but when you’re on the physique beat, it’s all about the Arnold, a.k.a. “Columbus,” a.k.a. the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic World Bodybuilding Championship and Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions.
This year’s edition of the IFBB Pro League’s early-season A-list party was so full of fascinating develop ments, even the contests that were business as usual were not business as usual. Snowstorms in the Mid west and Northeast plus tornadoes in the South ensured that everyone traveling to central Ohio would have interesting stories to swap before the women’s judging got started at noon on Friday. Once the fitness athletes strode onstage in their one-piece suits, there was plenty of other stuff to talk about. Here’s as much of it as would fit on five pages.
Goin’ on
End of an era. Hendershott calls it
quits. See page 265. “Iris will win until she retires.” That
observation by one bodybuilding sage of my acquaintance pretty much sums up the results of the Ms. International competition, in which defending champ and Ms. Olympia Iris Kyle nabbed a five-point victory over Yaxeni Oriquen and a lineup of 16 of the world’s finest female flexers. Yaxeni would be the first to disagree with that assessment—she’s beaten the 5’6”, 158-pounder with the fab X-factor from Fullerton, California, numerous times and no doubt expects to do it again—but now that Kyle has put consistency on her list of admirable qualities, not even the Yaxinator may be able to stop her.
Not that Oriquen didn’t try. Those who were wondering if the ’05 Olympia and Inter national champ’s drop to seventh at the ’06 O signaled the end
Icon-ic
W O M E N ’ S B O DY B U I L D I N G
Is it my imagination, or was Iris glow ing under all that muscle? See page 266.
Flexing in the age of Iris
Hot bods collide (from left): Inga, Zena, Debbie and Chris tine make for colorful combustion. Sage advice. Amanda Savell teach es Sonia Ad- cock how to pose for the money shot. Rumors, anyone?
D R E S S I N G R O O M T A L E S
Girl talk. Lisa Aukland tells Tonie Nor man about her own long, slow climb to the Ms. I top five.
Photography by
Ruth Silverman
of the 5’8”, 170-pound Venezuelan vixen’s own run at the top can find something else to stew about. Yaxeni was back in championship form, meaning tighter, her large, evenly distrib uted bodyparts flowing majestically as she hit her mandatories at the judging.
Even so, Yaxeni is 40, and in an interview published online last year, she questioned how long she would want to continue com peting. Iris is 32 and seems to be settling in for a Ronnie Coleman–like run. Queried the above-men tioned sage, Is anyone with the genetics to beat Iris even coming up?
Fans of new pro sensation Heather Policky, who was fresh off her win at the Sacramento Pro Grand Prix the week before, clear their throats at that. Based on the first callout—Kyle, Oriquen and Policky—they may have a point. Policky’s got all the ingredients, with jaw-dropping muscular ity, anatomy-book definition and a vicious V-taper leading the list. The Olympia should be very interesting, eh?
Rounding out the top six, in a surprising order, were Lisa
Aukland, Betty Pariso and Daya na Cadeau. (See,
I told you you’d be surprised.) Aukland is another vet who has developed the knack of nailing her conditioning every time. Now that she’s brought her waist in and, literally, changed her shape, there appears to be no stopping her. Pariso—speaking of veterans, Lisa is 48, Betty is 51—may have brought her personal-best phy sique to the stage in Columbus. I’ve said that before, but she actually keeps get ting better.
As for Cadeau’s sixth-place finish, I’m
not sure what that was about. At first glance her physique seemed on point. On closer inspection I considered whether
the judges thought she could have been drier—and sharp er. I also wondered whether they were so blinded by the beef, they didn’t actually see anyone who weighed under 140 (Dayana is thick, but she’s a lightweight).
Not for nothing did another wise observer say, “The con test was a complete waste of time and money for the smaller girls.” While that may
be a bit of an exaggeration—I don’t know any athletes who don’t enjoy competing at the International—it’s also true that none of the leaner, “more aesthetic” types, even among the heavier women, could break into the money placings.
One larger athlete who
wasn’t at her best, Annie
Rivieccio, dropped to seventh
from third at the O in Septem ber. Bonny Priest, fourth at the O, landed in eighth. She looked good but perhaps a little smaller than at recent shows. With the 5’7”, 173-pound Policky grabbing the spotlight, however, the 5’5 1/2” 158 pound Priest could have ap peared downright diminutive.
Tonie Norman, the light
weight winner at the Sac, dialed it in again, only to finish ninth, with Cathy LeFrancois much improved from the week before but again landing be hind Norman, in 10th. Eleventh through 16th, in order, went to
Lora Ottenad, Denise Ma sino, Kim Perez, Colette Nelson, Rosemary Jennings
and Susanne Niederhauser.
Yaxeni is back! (Was there any doubt?)
“Hey, don’t forget us!” cries the 5’2”, 135-pound Cathy. The call for having weight classes at more pro women’s shows is getting louder.
From top: Cadeau’s sixth-place fin ish was her low est since her Ms. I debut in ’99, when she was 11th; Pariso was at her best; and so was Aukland. Don’tcha just love Lisa’s new shape?
Ms. and Fitness International photography by Roland Balik, Mer
v and Bill Dobbins \ www
.BillDobbins.com
So there. Policky declared her self a major force in the sport.
www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2007 263