Untitled Document
2008 GeneX Awards
2008 has been a pretty eventful year in the world of women's bodybuilding. Here's our recap: (Article by Hans)
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At the pro level, a lot of us were expecting it to be a year of change, especially after Ms. O Iris Kyle placed out of the top six at the Arnold in March. When Nicole Ball won the overall at the Tampa Pro it seemed to confirm that there was a new direction in judging. But in the end, it was business as usual as Iris bounced back to win the Ms. Olympia for the fourth time (fifth if you count her heavyweight win in 2001). Heather Armbrust, who a lot of people were touting as the embodiment of the new era in the sport, ended up placing 12th in Vegas - apparently a victim of the same policy on "bumps" that caused Iris's placing at the Arnold.
The voluptuous Venezuelan Betty Viana, who came in in the best shape of her life and took second in Vegas (and beat compatriot Yaxeni Oriquen for the first time in the process) must be the most improved pro of the year. The newcomer of the year in the pros has to be Jennifer Sedia, who won the lightweights at the Europa in August and then, after giving everyone a scare by collapsing onstage, placed 10th on her Ms. O debut. It was also great to see Isabelle Turell aka The Phantom finally fulfill her enormous potential to win the overall at the USA and then place sixth in Atlantic City two months later on her pro debut. Right now she is prepping for the Arnold.
At the national level, 2008 was also the year that Sheila Bleck and Elena Seiple finally turned pro. Sheila and Elena have both been competing at the national level since 2000 so we were happy to see them both finally get their pro cards and can't wait to see both of them competing in the pros this year. Sheila looked her best ever and totally deserved to win the overall. As for Elena, it was great to see her finally do it after coming so close second so many times before.
One of the biggest trends at the national level this year has been the success of figure crossovers in bodybuilding. Amber DeFrancesco switched from figure to bodybuilding a few years ago and won the heavyweights and overall at Junior Nationals in June (and went on to place third in the heavyweights at Nationals). At the USA in July, middleweight winner Diana Tinnelle came from figure. Diana then went on to get her pro cards at Nationals in Atlanta - as far as I know, the first time a figure crossover has turned pro as bodybuilder.
As I said in my post a couple of days ago, I expect this trend - which is also helping to bump up the numbers at women's bodybuilding shows - to continue into 2009.
Away from the stage, it's been a year of ups and downs in the sport. On the positive side, women's bodybuilding has had a lot of good coverage in the mainstream media - a lot of it involving Colette Nelson! (Colette is even hoping to star in a reality show based on her vida loca! See the video she is using to pitch the idea to the networks here.) There was also the Hooked show that aired on MSNBC in August and sparked a lot of discussion within the sport about female bodybuilders and eating disorders.
Another cool piece of publicity was Martin Schoeller's exhibition (now also a book), which brought women's bodybuilding to a whole new audience of people from the art world and Hollywood.
One thing that has been disappointing has been the way that, as so often in the past, women's bodybuilding hasn't always get full support from people within the industry. In terms of the magazines, Muscular Development had led the way with great contest coverage on its website and training articles featuring Iris Kyle in the print magazine - until we heard this week that they plan to axe Steve Wennerstrom's column from the mag. It was also disappointing to see Betty Pariso drop women's bodybuilding from her Europa Pro show for next year after criticizing the rowdy behaviour of the female pros at this year's show.
Finally, the saddest news of the year was undoubtedly the death of former pro bodybuilder and American Gladiator Shelley Beattie, one of the most beautiful women, inside and out, there has ever been in the sport. Shelley died in February after a long battle with bipolar disorder. RIP Shelley.
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2008 GeneX Awards
Pro Awards:
