In the world of women's bodybuilding, fitness, and figure contests, the competitive journeys taken by female contestants can vary wildly as it relates to their placements at any given progression of event
s. The most fortunate individuals can make a steady climb from contest to contest and reach their original goals over a relatively short period of time, while some whisk along at supersonic speed reaching the highest levels of the pro ranks in a matter of months.
Others find a startling, albeit welcome, level of success early on in their careers, only to experience an equally unwelcome downward spiral that can be devastating in the preservation of the important motivational levels needed to persevere.
But by far the majority of aspiring competitors end up on the most common contest trail that takes a sometimes wild, unpredictable, rollercoaster ride of placings at contests that can make the most level-headed competitors agonize over just how to proceed. Within this group the competitive goals can range from a simplistic wish of winning a local event in front of friends and family, to capturing a National title, or the lofty desire of reaching the pro ranks and even winning a coveted Ms. Olympia crown.
But if there is one thread that weaves its way through all of the above mentioned, it is just how interesting so many of those paths have been - especially when considering those who became notable stars in their chosen division.
Dues Paying Before Winning the Ms. Olympia
To a vast majority of fans and followers of women's bodybuilding, the names Cory Everson and Lenda Murray are iconic in the history of the sport. Their triumphs as both amateur and professional competitors are well-documented. But a closer look brings to light that neither of these resident Hall of Famers were overnight successes. In Everson's case - after winning her first contest in 1980 - her first entry at the national level came in 1981 where she finished in an unheralded 11th place position at the American Women's Championships. The 1982 season brought high hopes as she won the overall crown at the first IFBB North American Championships - an event that was not an IFBB pro qualifier at the time. But when she finished fifth in the HW class at the AFWB American Women's Championships later in the year plans to reach the pro level were delayed another calendar year. In 1983 hopes of reaching the pro ranks were once again derailed when she found herself placing eighth in the HW class at the AFWB American Women's Championships. It was a disappointing finish for Everson, to be sure.
But the coming of 1984 would change her life dramatically. It was in New Orleans that Everson caught fire and won the HW and overall NPC National titles. And as they say, "timing is everything". So when Everson entered the Ms. Olympia with a full head of steam after her convincing victory at the NPC Nationals - she captured the Ms. Olympia crown in her pro debut, leaving two-time Ms. Olympia Rachel McLish in second, fast rising pro star Mary Roberts in third, and fourth-placed 1983 Ms. Olympia Carla Dunlap in her wake - not a bad night's work! It was the beginning of the Cory Everson era where she would compete just five more times ending her career with six straight Ms. Olympia titles culminating with her final victory in 1989. Everson's string of six straight wins at the time was one who many felt might never be matched.
But a rising star from Michigan was on the immediate horizon - her name was Lenda Murray. With Everson leaving the competitive stage in 1989, Lenda Murray provided fans of women's bodybuilding with continued non-stop superstardom beginning in 1990. Murray was ready to pick up where Everson left off. However, Lenda Murray experienced a challenge that was similar to Everson on her way to her first the Ms. Olympia title that few may realize. The 1985 NPC Michigan was Murray's first contest effort and she placed fourth in the HW class. In 1986 she took another shot at the Michigan state title - this time placing third. Murray again entered the Michigan state contest in 1987, and again finished third. Finally in 1988 she captured the HW Michigan crown, but missed adding the overall title. In 1989 Lenda Murray's fortunes were about to take a dramatic turn for the better.
Murray surfaced at the NPC Junior Nationals and dazzled everyone in attendance. She quickly followed up with an equally convincing victory at the IFBB North American Championships where she earned top honors taking the HW and overall titles. The win moved her into the pro ranks, and in 1990 she began a string of six Ms. Olympia titles matching Everson's record winning her sixth in 1995. In 1996 Murray was attempting to continue her string when Kim Chizevsky toppled Murray, dropping her to the bridesmaid spot for the first time in her pro career. Murray would finish second to Chizevsky again in 1997 followed by an announced retirement from competition.
Murray, however, wasn't finished quite yet. She made a highly anticipated return in 2002 winning the weight-class contested Olympia taking the HW and overall titles. She repeated the effort in 2003 to raise her total of Ms. Olympia victories to eight - a record that remains today. In 2004 Murray finished second to another rising star in Iris Kyle, and announced her retirement for the final time.
So, for a competitor who took four years to win her weight class at her home state contest, Lenda Murray became the sport's most successful female bodybuilder of all time entering 11 Ms. Olympia contests and never finishing worse than second. Somehow, the word ‘remarkable' falls short of accurately describing just how special her competitive career was.
In tandem, Cory Everson and Lenda Murray accounted for 14 Ms. Olympia titles, while both sharing the experiences of struggling in the early years of their amateur careers.
And speaking of Ms. Olympia titles, Iris Kyle found herself on a temporary rollercoaster ride as she reached the pro ranks.
With what anyone would consider a stellar amateur competitive career that began in 1994, Kyle reached the doorway to the pro ranks when she won the 1998 NPC USA HW and overall titles. In 1999 she made her
pro debut at the Ms. International and found herself in an unceremonious free-fall to 15th place in a field of 19 contestants. Undeterred and more motivated than ever, Kyle moved up to third a year later, followed by runner-up placings in 2001 and 2002 before winning the event in 2004, a year in which she also added the Ms. Olympia title (a rare accomplishment that had only been achieved by Kim Chizevsky previously). Kyle is now reaching the rarified air of Ms. Olympia victories achieved by Everson and Murray with all eyes watching how the judging system flows in 2011.
As mathematical probabilities go, Yaxeni Oriquen and Cathy Lefrancois are forever joined at the hip in what has to be the most improbable turnaround in women's bodybuilding history. The year was 1999 and 19 contestants were entered in the Ms. International. There were no weight classes and the field was brimming with quality bodybuilders - so much so that Yaxeni Oriquen found herself mired in 18th place, followed by the sprightly Cathy Lefrancois in 19th.
Fast forward to 2003, there are two weight classes being contested at the Ms. International. The LW class is won by none other than Cathy Lefrancois, while the HW class is captured by Yaxeni Oriquen. The results speak volumes for the perseverance in both women, but the astronomical possibility of the last place finishers at the same contest coming back to win their respective divisions four years later is mind-numbing.
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| Cathy LeFrancois | Yaxeni Oriquen |
Both Oriquen and Lefrancois have moved on to very successful pro careers and are currently competing in their finest conditions ever. Oriquen won the 2005 Ms. Olympia title and three Ms. International crowns in a pro career that includes a staggering 44 contests since reaching the pro ranks in 1994. Lefrancois has also made her mark in a 16-year career that includes a LW win at the 2003 Ms. International and three successive victories at the New York Pro Championships in 2008, '09, and '10. Her participation in the 2011 season will bring Lefrancois up to a total of 30 pro competitions in her distinguished competitive career.
The 1992 Ms. International was a watershed event for women's bodybuilding in the 90's as a concerted effort was made to alter the direction of the rapid muscular development in the pro ranks by way of judging the women with a different set of guidelines. The event was controversial, to say the least.
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| Anja Schreiner |
Winning the contest was German Anja Schreiner, a former NABBA World Figure champion in 1986. Moving into the pro ranks of the IFBB in 1989 she placed a distant 11th at the Ms. International and was hammered even more mercilessly when she placed in a tie for 21st with six other competitors in a field of 27 at the IFBB Pro Worlds. All that said, Schreiner possessed clean bodylines and a balanced overall structure, and it was felt her aesthetic appearance would make a favorable change in the direction of women's bodybuilding. So Schreiner's stock rose considerably in 1990 when she placed third at both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia. The 1991 season saw her place second at the Ms. International and eighth at the Ms. O. Then in 1992, Schreiner's ascent from her 1989 Ms. International culminated in a victory that caused a major buzz throughout the sport as her considerably less muscular physique was rewarded ahead of Laura Creavalle Debbie Muggli, Nancy Lewis, Tonya Knight, Sharon Bruneau, Shelley Beattie, and a strikingly muscular Brit named Paula Bircumshaw who became a fan favorite at the event with her gregarious personality and awe-inspiring physique. Many observers assumed Bircumshaw might just win the contest, but when she was missing from the top six on stage for the final posedown, all hell broke loose......a happenstance that became one of the most electric moments in women's bodybuilding history. For whatever reasons, Schreiner's rise to the top was only temporary as she slipped to sixth at the '92 Ms. O, and faded from the competitive after that event.
Another competitor at the 1992 Ms. International was French competitor (by way of Guadeloupe) Marie-Laure Mahabir. And after her 9th-place finish at the Ms. I, she was about to take a wild ride up and
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| Marie Mahabir |
down (or more accurately down and up and down) the placings of three Ms. Olympia contests before she decided to call it a career. Prior to the '92 Ms. International Mahabir had already competed three times at the Ms. O in a career that began in 1983 with several World Championship titles in both the NABBA and WABBA organizations. In the IFBB her luck wasn't nearly as good. In her first three Ms. Olympia efforts she finished ninth in 1989, eighth in '90, and 12th in '91. But it was the three Ms.O contests after the ‘92 Ms. International that was most difficult to figure. In 1993 she plummeted to a 16th-place finish. Then in a drastic turnaround, she found herself placing fourth in 1994. And just as she believed she had found the right formula to be a consistent challenger in the top five, Mahabir nosedived to 13th in 1995.
As was mentioned in a Flex Magazine profile on Mahabir in 1995, "......Mahabir's physique and its accompanying muscle never really changed that much over the years. While her body and performances were consistent, the sport's unpredictable judging philosophies were going through a series of transitions and revisions. In other words, if muscularity wasn't the apple of the judges' eyes, she plummeted in the scoring. When it was recognized, she quickly moved up the placements. Simple enough."
Mahabir left the competitive stage after the '95 Ms. Olympia taking a dozen years of memorable moments along with her.
Like Cory Everson and Lenda Murray, another Ms. Olympia who would find the road to the ultimate Ms. O crown a sobering one was Ukrainian Valentina Chepiga. In a career that began in 1988, Chepiga was a well-known and respected competitor on the European scene in the early 90's. In 1991 she won the Soviet Union Championships overall title before the USSR disbanded. But later in the year she missed placing in the top 15 of the MW class in her first entry at the IFBB World Amateur Championships. Through 1996 Chepiga had finished strongly at both the IFBB European and World Amateur Championship contests, but her breakthrough year came in 1997 when she won the MW class at the IFBB European Championships, followed by the overall IFBB World Amateur Championship title (which, at the time, brought her automatic qualification into the pro ranks and an invitation to the Ms. Olympia).
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| Valentina Chepiga |
In 1998 Chepiga made her pro debut at the Ms. Olympia - a gutsy move if there ever was one! The result of that experience gave Chepiga pause to reflect - she placed 12th. In 1999 she prepped for her second entry at the Ms. Olympia by first entering the Jan Tana Classic where she finished a very respectable third. At the Ms. Olympia, however, things didn't go as planned - once again she placed 12th. But her free-fall at the '99 Ms. O was about to take a dramatic turn.
Re-energized with the coming of 2000, Chepiga entered and won the MW class at the Jan Tana Classic. It was her first pro victory, and the fire was lit. Entering her third Ms. Olympia and after placing 12th in her two previous tries, Chepiga swept to victory in the HW class. Oddly, the 2000 Ms. O contested a LW class (won by Andrulla Blanchette), and a HW class with no overall selection being made. Consequently, both women rightly claimed the Ms. O title for 2000.
Chepiga's pro career stretched on to 2007. She competed in four more Ms. O's finishing fourth (HW) in 2001, second (LW) in '02, eighth in 2003, and 11th in 2007. In her seven Ms. Olympia entries she finished 12th, 12th, 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 11th. And there were also other sterling contest moments along the way. In 2002 she won the LW class at the Ms. International, as well as the MW class at the Show of Strength contest the same year.
Clearly, Valentina Chepiga's competitive career has had its share of ups and downs, but through it all she has remained an elegant, classy representative of the sport regardless of where she placed. And what competitor wouldn't be blissfully happy with the World Amateur overall title and Ms. Olympia on their contest resume.
For pro veteran of veterans Betty Pariso this colorful Texan with a Texas-sized contest resume was also a witness to how quickly the fortunes of entering contests can change. The good news in Pariso's case was that she had a taste of both early on in her competitive career before she became one of the most consistent
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| Bettty Pariso |
pro female bodybuilders ever to compete over a 15-year period.
In a competitive career that began in 1988 including a pair of local victories in her home state of Texas, Pariso entered the '93 NPC Junior Nationals and placed 13th in the HW class. But in a stunning reversal of fortunes she returned to the Junior Nationals a year later and won the MW class. By 1996 Pariso added the HW and overall NPC National titles and she was on her way to the pro ranks making her debut at the 1997 Jan Tana Classic. Getting an immediate taste of just how tough the pro road might be, she placed 15th. But again, Pariso showed her resilience by returning to the 2001 Jan Tana and winning the HW class. Between 1997 and 2001 Pariso also began to lay the groundwork for what would become a stellar pro career where the consistency of her placings became the hallmark of her entries right up to the recent announcement of her retirement this year. Over a span of years from 1998 to 2010, Pariso was invited to 12 Ms. Internationals (11 consecutively from 1998 to 2008), and eight Ms. Olympia events - a stunning 20 competitions at the two most prestigious contests offered to pro bodybuilders in a career where she entered nearly 40 contests. With all the earmarks of a future Bodybuilding Hall of Famer, Betty Pariso's perseverance coupled with her joy of competing has made her one of the sport's most memorable competitors.
More recently, New Jersey's Lisette Acevedo jumped on the rollercoaster bandwagon - in a positive way.
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| Lisette Acevedo |
A neophyte to the competitive bodybuilding stage with just two contest victories to her credit - one each in 2006 and '07, Acevedo jumped into the fire of the 2008 NPC National light-heavyweight class and found herself mired in 14th place when the final tallies were compiled. But one calendar year later and in just her fourth contest, Acevedo rocketed to the top of the 2009 NPC National MW class to earn a victory and qualify for the pro ranks. Four contests in four years to reach the pro level - a certifiable rarity in women's bodybuilding. The 2010 season would bring her pro debut at the Battle of Champions and she chimed in with a respectable seventh-place finish in a field of 20 contestants. How Lisette Acevedo's future contest journey pans out is still to be decided as she enters her sixth year of competitive bodybuilding with only five previous entries on her contest resume.
The Highs and Lows of Fitness and Figure
With Fitness and Figure events born out of the growth in women's bodybuilding, each of these fledgling competitions also experienced their fair share of competitors who endured the radical swings in placements from contest to contest and year to year.
One of the most prominent fitness competitors who made a pointed move upward was longtime IFBB pro
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| Julie Palmer |
Julie Palmer.
One of the most recognizable veteran fitness competitors at the pro level, Julie Palmer began competing in amateur events in 1997 with a ninth-place finish (in a field of nine) at the 1997 World Gym Classic. Palmer moved along quickly and turned pro after placing second at the 2000 NPC USA Championships. But Palmer's celebration came to an abrupt halt when she made her pro debut at the 2001 Ms. International. In a field of 22 contestants she landed in a tie for 20th. An 18th-place finish at the Pittsburgh Pro Fitness followed. In 2002 Palmer again struggled, placing tied for 22nd at the New York Pro Fitness.
But the 2003 competitive season made a permanent change in Palmer's stage career when she catapulted to the third-place spot at the same New York Pro Fitness event where she had stumbled a year earlier. The effort qualified her for the Ms. Olympia, and she collected rock solid finishes at over 30 pro fitness contests into 2009. Along with victories at the 2004 New York Pro, the 2005 Charlotte Pro, the 2006 Atlantic City Pro, and the West Palm Beach Pro in 2006 and '07, Palmer has also made seven trips to the Ms. Olympia placing as high as fourth three times, and two runner-up finishes in eight invitations to the Ms. International - most recently in 2009. Those accomplishments are a long way from the early efforts she endured at the beginning of her pro career.
Countless others - too numerous to mention - have made similar leaps to the upper echelon of pro fitness competitions after starting slowly including such notable personalities as Tracey Greenwood, Myriam Capes, and Oksana Grishina. Point being.....even with a slow start, notable success is still attainable.
Achieving notable success - and the pitfalls that can come with it - also relates to Figure competitions. Still
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| Michele Flake |
relatively new compared to bodybuilding and fitness, figure contests have exhibited a large number of women who have encountered rapid ups and downs in their competitive efforts. And one of the most memorable is Michelle Flake.
In a five year career - all of which took place after the age of 30 - Flake was an overall winner at her first amateur event called the NPC Battle on the Bluff in her home state of Arkansas. From that point on she traveled one of the rockiest roads imaginable. In 2003 she placed ninth in her class at the NPC Nationals. Things got worse in 2004 when she placed 10th at the NPC Junior USA before getting hammered even more mercifully the NPC Junior Nationals where she floundered as a 16th-place finisher in her class. Understandably, thoughts of dropping out of the competitive scene entered her mind. Fortunately for her - and figure contests - she decided to stick with it another year. So, in 2005, she won her class at the NPC Emerald Cup and followed up with a strong fourth-place finish at the NPC Junior USA. With the figure division being contested at the NPC USA in Las Vegas for the first time, Flake was entered in premium condition. The result was not only a win in her class, but an overall victory. So, in little more than a calendar year Michelle Flake went from a 16th placer at the Jr. Nationals to an overall winner at the USA.....not to mention the additional perk of turning pro.
With the exhilaration of winning the USA crown still being savored with the coming of 2006, Flake made her pro debut at the Ms. International. Again, she was stunned into reality with a 15th-place finish that no doubt reminded her of that fateful Junior Nationals experience. More of the same followed when she tied for 18th at the Ms. Olympia.
Forgettable finishes notwithstanding, Flake had reached the top of the competitive totem pole by competing in both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia. Pretty heady stuff indeed and an enviable goal for any figure contestant.
But that wasn't the end of Michelle Flake's foray in the pro ranks. The 2007 season saw her compete two more times - first at the Sacramento Pro Figure and then at the Kentucky Pro Figure. The results? You guessed it, she WON both events! Michelle Flake was and is a quintessential example of a competitor who took the rollercoaster ride of placements in the world of Figure contests.
So, where is she now? 2010 saw Flake win the Mrs. Arkansas beauty pageant, followed by a top 12 finish at the Mrs. America.
Any bets on who had the best physique at that event?
Current IFBB Figure Pro Mindi Smith serves as the antithesis to Michelle Flake's rocky five-year journey.
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| Mindi Smith |
And that could easily be considered an understatement. With the speed of an Indy car, Smith dashed into the pro ranks after just two NPC amateur events - both in the period of one month.
On November 7th in 2009, Smith entered and promptly won the overall figure title at the NPC Sacramento. Then, just two weeks later - on November 20th - she added the overall title at the NPC Nationals. Presto, she had earned the opportunity to enter the IFBB pro ranks. As December and January passed, Smith made her pro debut at the 2010 Phoenix Pro Figure Championships in February and notched another victory. At the Ms. International in March, Smith's runaway train slowed somewhat when she finished fourth in a field brimming with well-established figure personalities. Then, just over a month before the Ms. Olympia, Smith finished in an uncharacteristic seventh-place spot at the Europa Super Show in August. Unfortunately, Smith withdrew from the Ms. Olympia citing health issues that would have had a direct effect on her preparing for the event properly. But with 2011 just around the corner, it will be of great interest to see how Mindi Smith progresses in the unpredictable world of figure competitions.
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