Fitness Olympia
This year there were 13 women in the Fitness Olympia competition. The last person to qualify was Jennifer Hendershott who also was competitor number one and the first one out to begin the weekend's events.

This year there was no prejudging event separated out for the Fitness or Ms. Olympia competitions and both started off the evening with what is traditionally the "finals" evening round. However, all rounds of judging were reserved for the evening show, and it actually worked fairly well, because of the limited number of competitors.

As usual, the first mandatory routine round kicked things off. The competitors came out in the black bodysuits and it was somewhat hard to judge this round, although, the competitors who weren't as good were easier to note than the differentiation between the top routines.

Hendershott known for her routines started things off impressively, and Jenny Worth and Kelly Ryan followed successively with impressive routines as well. Other notables included Susan Curry, Adela Friedmansky, and Shannon Meteraud.

The second round of prejuding let the audience and judges see a lot more of the athletes, as the two-piece round commenced. The first callout had Timea Majorova, Jenny Worth, and Lena Johannesen.

Johannesen, Susan Curry, and Shannon Meteraud followed with Kelly Ryan getting in on the third callout as well. The round ended with a callout of Meteraud, Friedmandsky and Curry, indicating to most that Majorova had won the round.

The third round of prejudging, the full routine round, was the most popular with the crowd. Monica Brandt joined Mike Adamle to co-MC this part of the competition and it was off with a bang with Hendershott, who had a high-energy routine with great energy. However she did stumble slightly, but made a good recovery.

Worth followed up with a similar routine to hers at the Jan Tana using black lights to illuminate her flourescent outfit which this time was pink. Very popular with the crowd, and it set the stage for Kelly Ryan, who's routine was next.

Ryan had the crowd anticipating something amazing and she didn't fail. Great tumbling moves, and strong presses along with crystal clean presentation helped secure the round, but the competition was intense as usual here.

Majorova had the hard task of following Ryan up, and with the routine being one of her weaker events, she seemed slightly off and didn't seem like she was fully on like Ryan.

The next several routines were good but with the competition level so high, a routine had to be amazing to be in the top five. Shena Forkner showed impressive strength with some of the highest presses and largest number of reps during the round. Melissa Frabielle's timing was slightly off, but Lisa Lowe followed up with a nice solid routine.

Johannesen's routine didn't help her placement up to that point in the competition, as it seemed to be a little too slowly paced. Klaudia Kinska had a very creative routine, and Susan Curry followed with another amazing routine.

One very cool move incorporated a standing back flip that instead of landing up standing, was twisted at the top of the flip so that Curry could land in a pushup position horizontal on the floor (see image at right). Because the ending to her routine was not as strong as the rest of the routine, it let Ryan win the round.

Friedmansky, Meteraud and Stacy Simons all followed with very strong routines. Friedmansky's routine was very well rounded, while Meteraud's may have been a little too sexy for the judges. It also may have suffered from not having as many crowd-wowwing gymnastics tumbling moves. Simons wrapped things up with her trademark flexibility.

That left the 1-piece round to wrap things up, and this time the first callouts had Majorova, Curry and Worth, followed by Meteraud, Friedmansky and Ryan. After all nine callouts were made, it looked as if it was going to be very close to see who would be the 2000 Fitness Olympia Champion.

As the top five were announced, it was very fair, and it seemed most agreed with the judges decisions. Susan Curry, although she didn't win any of the individual rounds, came out on top, edging Kelly Ryan and Jenny Worth as the new Fitness Olympia.

As the lightweights took the stage, there were five competitors that were under 135 lbs. Cathy Priest (formerly Lefrancous) came out first followed by the newest pro, Jennifer McVicar.

It was evident that McVicar was outclassed, but considering she has been pro for only a few months, it's understandable. Priest was in great shape conditioning-wise, but her tan was too dark, and it really masked her physique. Not quite as sharp as at the Ms. International, Priest beat out McVicar, but could not match up with the top three.

When the heavyweights (over 135 lbs.) came out, Lesa Lewis, Iris Kyle, Yaxeni Oriquen, Valentina Chepiga and Vickie Gates all looked to be the ones to fight it out for the title.

Denise Hoshor was far too lightly colored and Th-Resa Bostick was soft and disproportionate looking. When the first callouts were made, it had Chepiga, Lewis and Gates. The final callout was Gates and Chepiga, so it was evident that the Gates would have a serious challenge from Chepiga, who was looking amazing.

During the muscularity round, the same callouts were made as in the symmetry round, and the placements were further cemented for both the light and heavyweights.

The routine round followed and Blanchette help solidify her placing with a very entertaining routine that expressed a lot of the changes she had made in her life and in preparation for the contest. Sporting a new hairdo and with her physique looking better than ever, Blanchette took the round.

McVicar's routine was good, as was Priests, but Raganot's was slightly odd and a little self-serving. Casella had trouble with her top moving around, and thankfully, it never strayed too high, but caused the audience to have a little fun, and MC Mike Adamle commented to his co-MC Kim Chizevsky, asking her what bodyparts, if any were harder to develop compared to others. Chizevsky didn't get that it was a joke making fun of what had happened to Casella.

During the routine round for the heavyweights, Chepiga really secured the class with a powerful, classy routine that was one of the best women's bodybuilding routines.

Iris Kyle and Oriquen also were standouts in the round, along with the ever-popular Lesa Lewis. Oriquen managed to show another side of her with a new routine that was much unlike her previous routines, keeping things fresh and intersting.

Gates wrapped up the round with a somewhat reserved routine, as she's done in the past, but following Chepiga it paled, and it was looking more and more like the Ukranian would take the heavyweight class.

During the posedowns in the lightweights, Blanchette looked confident and relaxed, nearing her first Ms. Olympia title. In the heavyweights it was a different story as Gates looked like she thought she had the title, moving from one side of the stage to the other, trying to make Lewis and Chepiga follow.

The demure Chepiga was just having fun, and her tremendous physique stood out by itself, and when the titles were announced, it was appropriate that Blanchette and Chepiga were the new Ms. Olympias. As the beginning of a new era in women's bodybuilding, it looked like the direction that was being taken with the sport was quite a positive one, and most in the audience would have agreed.

Of course Vickie Gates didn't and when she heard the judges announcing her as second, you could immediately see her outrage at the decision, and she actually left the stage. Perhaps not the most sportswoman-like way to accept it, but as usual, at least one competitor felt cheated.

Now the only question becomes how you define who each Ms. Olympia is. What should Blanchette and Chepiga be called? Ms. Lightweight Olympia dn Ms. Heavyweight Olympia? Who knows, but either way, it was a very positive step for the sport.