Articles The Wennerstrom Report Fabulous Anne Freitas – The Brazilian Anatomy Chart – Wins the Omaha Pro!
It was a weekend when horseracing's California Chrome was attempting to score a Triple Crown victory in the Belmont Stakes and the LA Kings were busy beating the New York Rangers in two overtime hockey games. Both of those major events were going on in New York. Meanwhile in Nebraska, promoters Jack and Ann Titone were staging the Wings of Strength and Rock Solid Nutrition sponsored IFBB Omaha Pro and NPC Nebraska Championship events before a sellout crowd at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha.
Granted, the Titone's audience was not in the same stratosphere as the two aforementioned events, but there is little doubt that this dynamic duo has every intention of building a tradition for bodybuilding and its variety of divisions smack dab in the 
middle of the nation's midsection. And if this contest is any indication, it's working.
Adding to the excitement of the Saturday event, a guest posing performance by Mr. Olympia Phil Heath and an appearance by 9-time Ms. Olympia Iris Kyle added to the prestige of the muscular festivities. Competitively, the highlight of the show would be the Pro Women's Bodybuilding and Pro Women's Physique division clashes.
First, Women's Bodybuilding.
A Brazilian Amazon… and not the river! It wasn't but a week earlier in Toronto at the annual SuperShow in that city where Brazilian Simone Oliveira made her pro debut an auspicious one by taking a unanimous decision home along with some prize money and a ticket to the Ms. Olympia in September. Her look was impressive and a big crowd along with a pro judging panel all agreed she was special on that night.
Fast forward to June 7 in Omaha, Nebraska. Another Brazilian was about to make her seasonal debut, and she did so in gangbuster fashion. Her name is Anne Luise Freitas and with her appearance on stage, she not only brought a stunning level of muscularity, her contest resume spoke loudly of her past accomplishments as well.
In the same vein (no pun intended) as Oliveira, Freitas was an eye-catching figure in the lineup, and it was no great surprise when she was moved to the middle of the first call-out. At just 5’2”, she is a veritable powder keg of muscle – in every bodypart. In side poses, her hamstring/gluteal tie-ins showed proof of the highest level of conditioning.
If there was a flaw that could be attributed to her wondrous look, it was that her overall structural lines miss having a pleasing flow to them. And her frontal stance with legs wide apart made for an awkward look. That said, even in that initial pose, she was riveting. From Rio de Janiero, Freitas began – believe it or not – as a Figure competitor in 2008. But the changes would come quickly. By 2009 she was the IFBB South American lightweight and overall champion. She made a strong impression in her pro debut in 2012 at the Europa Battle of Champions winning handily and becoming a member of an elite group of women who won their pro debut – a rare accomplishment indeed.
Freitas not only qualified for the 2012 Ms. Olympia, but she cracked the top ten with an 8th-place finish – a very respectable showing in her maiden voyage at the Ms. Olympia. Last year she placed second at the Toronto SuperShow, qualifying for the Ms. O once again and placing 9th. Now, Freitas has earned her third entry at the Ms. O, and in winning the Omaha event she pocketed $3,000 in prize money.
From Temecula, California, Margie Martin moved along through the amateur ranks very quickly, culminating with a heavyweight win at the 2013 NPC USA. Making her pro debut at the Toronto SuperShow last week, her fourth-place finish was a strong indicator that she could hang with the big girls at any pro show. In the week leading up to this event Martin tightened up her overall structure and thus made her muscle shapes and separations more prominent. The effort was worth it, especially in the way she now showed a physique that ca
n challenge for a top finish in the very near future. Here she was a unanimous pick for the runner-up, placing behind Freitas' unanimous victory. With four more points to her Ms. O qualification total, she is in the thick of making a trip to the Ms. Olympia a strong possibility. Her runner-up check for $2,000 should help on future contest prep expense.
If there was a competitor who took the biggest sigh of relief at this contest, it had to be Australia's Christine Envall. A true veteran bodybuilder who has been pushing iron since the early-90s, Envall was a 3-time NABBA World champion in 1998, 1999 and 2000. She turned pro in the IFBB in 2001 and has competed sparingly over the years, but her finish here is the best she has placed since 2002 when she snagged a third-place spot at the Southwest USA Pro Cup as a heavyweight.
The noticeable change in Envall over the past decade has been her steady and unwavering progress in refining and creating a better overall look with the impressive level of muscle she has always carried. It could be easily said that this event was her crowning achievement in bringing her most pleasing look to date. She was polished in every way. After her sixth-place finish in Toronto, her finish here puts points on the Ms. O qualification points board at last, not to mention the $1,000 in prize money. Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie… Oi, Oi, Oi!!!
Fourth placer Tonia Moore is another great story of perseverance and the desire to not give up. As one of the NPC's most successful amateurs in the past, Moore (who was better known in the 90s as Tonia Villalobos) was a two-time winner of the NPC USA lightweight class in 1997 and 1999 before finally earning pro status in winning the NPC National middleweight class in 2001. Moore has competed on a fairly regular basis as a pro placing as high as third at the PBW Tampa Pro in 2013. But this year she easily qualifies as the poster girl for how quickly fortunes can change based on the varying judging panels.
So, just last week in Toronto, Moore found herself not only in the final call-out, but in 14th (last) place in the final tallies. Here however, she was not only in the first call-out, but in the top five when all was said and done. There's just no explaining it, especially when seven contestants who competed in Toronto had also entered the Omaha event. For Tonia Moore at least, it paid to stick around! Her two points earned for fourth place on the Ms. O point board may not seem like much, but it's a start. That’s 14th to 4th in one week… gotta love it!
Texan Alana Shipp rounded out the top five with her fifth-place finish and fresh from her runner-up pro debut placing in Toronto a week earlier. As a hypothesis to Shipp's slip from second to fifth in a week, it may have had more to do with her selection of hairstyle than anything connected to what is an undeniably sound physique. On occasion, a dramatic change in look can trigger a judging over-reaction. One thing is certain, if you had told Shipp she would be finishing eight points (46 to 38) behind Tonia Moore – who she topped by 111 points (23 to 134) a week earlier – not even Vegas oddsmakers would have touched it. That said, it was a classic battle between a veteran and a rookie. This time, the veteran got the nod. Hopefully, Shipp and Moore can have a laugh about it now. It's bodybuilding and stranger things have happened.
Outside t
he Top Five
6- Wendy McCready, England 60
7- Helle Trevino, Denmark 78
8- Ren Marven, Nevada 82
9- Melody Spetko, Canada 94
10- Judy Gaillard, Mississippi 104
11- Emery Miller, Florida 110
12- Paula Francis, Colorado 110
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