As the Classic has grown each year, the 2000 edition opened with the EXPO being held at the Columbus Convention Center instead of next door to Veteran's Memorial and the extra space was a welcome change from previous years' overcrowded floor.

As fans filtered into the EXPO, the fitness women took the stage for the prejudging and immediately drew a crowd on the EXPO floor. Fortunately HBO and the Learning Channel were both filming the event as it's the 25 year anniversary of Pumping Iron, so look for coverage on both of those media outlets.

This year the first round was comprised of a :45 second compulsory round where the competitors were to do the mandatory strength moves during a :45 second routine of their choosing. What this amounted to was all the competitors taking the stage in black bodysuits. However, in :45 seconds, it's hard to differentiate routines and how well the competitors do their moves, unless they are really failing.

Of course for those going early, it's hard to compare folks against each other. A better solution might be to have all the competitors do the strength moves at the same time or else find a better way to compare them. Something like at the Strength Extravaganza where the moves are measured for time might be a better proposition that also might be more exciting for fans and easier grasped and judged - after all it's hard not to be subjective when you are counting reps or time.

After the first fitness round was complete, the bodybuilders took the stage. This year the new weight classes were introduced and the cutoff point was 135 lbs. There were seven competitors in the under 135 lb. class and nine in the over 135 class.

The lightweight class looked quite competitive with a solid top three in Brenda Raganot, Andrulla Blanchette and Cathy Lefrancois all looking impressive and sharp.

Brazilian Monica Martin didn't look as sharp in the morning pre-judging, looking a tad softer than the top three, but wasn't called out at all as was her Brazilian compatriot Angela Debatin. Also, local Gayle Moher was off from her previous contest condition, but Denise Masino looked good, with a softer look, but impressive thickness in her back.

For the top three, it was a looking like a very close call by the judges. Raganot had impressive lines and symmetry, but Blanchette matched her and had more muscle. Overall though, Blanchette looked on and in the muscularity round, definitely took the class.

Lefrancois has been steadily improving and looked fantastic coming in hard and clean. A steady improvement in each of her last three shows, which means look out for her at the Jan Tana - this beautiful Canadian is definitely a competitor to keep an eye on. Although her structure is not as good as Blanchette or Raganot's, she should still be able to do well.

During the second round, Blanchette easily looked the winner, but only barely beat out Raganot on the judges score sheet 7 to 8. Lefrancois and Masino both tied for third which was a little surprising since their structures are fairly different. [Note: Keep this all in mind when we get to the Heavyweights.]

When the heavies took the stage, there wasn't the usual gasps of amazement from the packed crowd in the EXPO center as this year's nine women weren't as large and ripped as in past shows, due to the changes the IFBB is trying to make.

Immediately it could be noted that overall the competitors looked smaller and smoother. Amy Pazzo was probably the hardest, and Iris Kyle looked awesome. Even Betty Pariso who is usually ripped, was softer. The heavyweights might have looked smaller because the lightweights weren't on stage at the same time, making the relative comparison harder to do.

Iris Kyle really looked great, and got called out early and often. She definitely seemed to have the edge over Vickie Gates and recent pro Denise Hoshor. Hoshor's structure looked a little odd, with her upper body not looking to be in good proportion to the rest of her physique. Vickie as usually had dominating upper body parts, but the whole did not look as good as Kyle's package.

From a total package perspective (which I thought the judges were supposed to look at), Kyle seemed the obvious choice, but instead somehow fell to third in the final tally. Amy Pazzo also should have placed higher, and looked better and better as the prejudging went on, and equally impressive in the evening finals.

Next up was the last part of the prejudging which was the fitness two-piece. Once again, Cynthia Bridges looked tremendous and was overlooked and penalized for being too-muscular. Take a look at the photos and make your own judgement on that call as Bridges finished last in the round right behind Linda McLaughlin, who was off because of being sick.

Timea Majorova and Shannon Meteraud took the top two spots in the round, followed by Ryan, Frabbiele, and DJ Wallis. Shena Forkner was called out several times although her physique didn't look quite as good as others. This year's judging panel also included fitness competitors Carol Semple and Debi Lee, so fans and competitors were optimistic about the judging, but several of the callouts were puzzling.

Although they are looking for less muscularity from the fitness girls, they still seemed to be judging hardness as a positive for some girls, while it was detrimental to others. Meteraud was not ripped, but placed first in this round, while Kelly Ryan was very hard. On the other end of the spectrum, Cynthia Bridges was muscular, but not ripped and Bellando was hard, but not huge, but still penalized for being 'too muscular.'

With the EXPO being held at the Columbus Convention Center this year instead of at Veteran's Memorial, there was much more space and it was a welcome change. As usual, the popular MuscleMag/Oxygen booth was staffed by the 'wonders of science' women attesting to the advancements in body enhancement.

However, many of the exhibitors took note and there were many 'fitness models' at booths throughout the hall, much to the delight of many visitors.

The women's finals were also on Friday, but at night, so the crowds headed over to Veteran's Memorial to see who would take the titles.

 Best Quads:
  Iris Kyle

 Christina Ricci lookalike:
  Timea Majorova

 Best Clubbing Outfit:
  Debbie Kruck

Second up though, was Kelly Ryan, and as usual, her routine was amazing and the crowd was thoroughly impressed with her tumbling, stage presence and energy. It set the stage for the night and set a high standard to compare against.

Melissa Frabbiele had the hard task of following up Ryan and had another solid routine with her signature handstand walk across the stage. The crowd was really into the routines now. Mandy Blank came on stage in a Madonna costume and performed her routine, but it didn't seem as if she was totally on. The same could be said of Linda McLaughlin who was still not feeling well, and removed some of her most impressive moves, because of that.

DJ Wallis was next with a good routine, but with the level set so high, it didn't stand out as much. Slovakian Klaudia Kinski had a very original routine with a much more Euro feel that was welcome and fresh. Her compatriot Timea Majorova followed her with a solid routine, which was reminiscent of her earlier routines from past years, with a more tribal feel to the music and performance.

Adela Friedmansky used her Latin music well with a high-energy routine which was followed by Lovena Tuley's. Next up though, was another competitor well known for her routines - Jennifer Hendershott, and she did not fail to live up to expectations. Once again it included very strong strength moves and very high energy coupled with her expressive personality and stage presence.

Laura Makowski has steadily been improving on her routines and this year's hop-hop influenced version was one of her best to date. Maria Bellando followed looking the best she has every looked, but didn't seem to be 100% on during her performance. The same could be said for Lisa Lowe who had the coolest outfit coming out in a full length leather jacket in a Matrix themed routine - very cool.

Cynthia Bridges was next and had an entertaining routine involving a towel, and at one point seemed to do the ride-em-cowboy dance that Jim from America Pie tried when trying to impress Nadia in his bedroom.

Finally Shena Forkner wrapped up the round with a really enjoyable routine which finished up with her doing legs-over-the-shoulder presses for several reps. A suitable wrap up for a great routine round.

Brenda Raganot went first and had a routine that seemed to match her physique. Next up was Cathy Lefrancois who seemed to be the happiest competitor on stage. Her routines seem to get slightly better each show, but they are still not quite there. Of course, there aren't many women who can pose consistently impressively.

Denise Masino had a solid performance and her back was looking especially good. Gayle Moher followed, but her music seemed to end prematurely. Otherwise, her routine was in her standard style of reserved elegance.

The Brazilians were both up next and Angela Debatin had a fairly standard routine. Monica Martin looked better in the evening show, but by this time, she had fallen too far behind. Andrulla Blanchette wrapped up the lightweight class and had probably the best routine of the class.

The heavyweights were next leading off with Denis Hoshor, who produced a non-spectacular performance. She was followed up by Vickie Gates who had another soulful routine but didn't move around the stage enough. She kept her feet planted in one place for too much of the routine.

Lesa Lewis was next, and the crowd was ready for something exciting, but Lesa didn't seem to be up to her usual self, with less dancing in her routine. However, Tazzie Columb followed up with a James Bond theme, and her routine was definitely on. She looked like the perfect Bond villian. Not sure what her super villian power would be but definitely a more realistic and believable villian, don't you think?

Dayana Cadeau did what Gates didn't do and made full use of the stage to her advantage, performing a solid and entertaining routine. Betty Pariso had a change of pace with faster music to pose to than usual.

Yaxeni Oriquen probably knew she was not placing very well, but performed well on stage, and seemed to really be into her routine towards the end, and the crowd felt it too. That got them warmed up for Amy Pazzo who was looking even better in the evening. Finally Iris Kyle wrapped up the posing round with a performance that was very animated and showed off her muscle groups well. She definitely looked quite impressive.

The fitness final round was all that was left before the results were to be announced, and it was the one-piece round. The callouts were similar to the previous rounds, and it was hard to tell what was going on since a lot of the same folks were compared over and over.

In the end, Majorova and Meteraud both tied for first place in the round, followed by Ryan and Forkner.

During the intermission before the final results were handed out, the Shaolin Temple was invited and several second graders were performing their martial arts for the crowd, and it was quite impressive. The kids did not get in until midnight the night before and had spent the day at a local elementary school meeting american kids, so it was a packed trip for them, but they performed tremendously.

Arnold came out to award the overall titles and Kelly Ryan took the Fitness International title while Vickie Gates edged out Brenda Raganot for the Ms. International crown.

On the Arnold tip some more — Arnold was backstage during the fitness finals, and was speaking to some of the competitors and one was told her calves were better than his, and his reply was something to the effect of "who cares about calves, I'm an ass man!" Who could blame him when surrounded by all of those amazing athletes backstage.

On the judging front, one of the peculiarities of the new weight class format was the inconsistency between who won the lightweight class and who won the heavyweight class. It seems if you looked at all the competitors and saw who won each division, you couldn't easily come up with why they selected the winners. The heavyweights was more mass and individual parts while in the lightweights it was a smaller, but arguably more balanced physique (although perhaps then it should have been Lefrancois. Either way, the loudest chorus of boos came when Andrulla Blanchette was announced as 2nd in the lightweight class. Of course, this wouldn't have been a bodybuilding contest with some controversy.

After the show, the banquet was packed with competitors and VIP holders. The crowd was thinning out around 11:30 p.m. but there were several people on the dance floor. As usual, the Red Zone had an after-Arnold party as did Enigma(?). Most of the folks however, seemed to end up at Red Zone. The place was packed and of course some of the athletes made some impressions on the locals.

The incomparable Debbie Kruck was decked out in a neon-pink wig, while wearing a total club kid outfit. Many of the other competitors also were decked out and it was quite a scene, although the music wasn't that great.

Amy Pazzo was there and dancing on a speaker as was Signa York, Min Kim, Lisa Marie Varon, Mandy Blank and more (several at the same time). Leigh Ann Ross was looking amazing, although she spent a great deal of time applying makeup with her friend near the coat check. Overall a good time, especially if you got to see Robert Kennedy grinding with Stacy Lynn.

At the EXPO, some of the WCW wrestlers were there filming away, and Andrulla Blanchette will be featured on Monday NITRO on Monday February 28th, so stay tuned for that!

Also, this year the Martial Arts Festival included grappling and Ken Shamrock's brother Frank's school had many participants. In the women's category, there were only two competitors, but next year promises to have more.