Grishina Wins........F I N A L L Y !

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Grishina Wins........F I N A L L Y !

Details: Published on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 15:49; Written by Steve Wennerstrom, IFBB Women's Historian

As a young teenager living in Kaliningrad, Russia, Oksana Grishina was a serious student of rhythmic gymnastics. She was so accomplished, in fact, she was awarded the honor 'Master of Sport' – a highly prestigious accomplishment in her homeland. Years later she would drift into the sport of fitness and her striking qualities became widely acknowledged internationally.

As an amateur Grishina was a Russian champion, a two-time Baltic champion, a European champion, and in 2006 she won the IFBB World Amateur Fitness Championships overall crown. With that level of success, she was welcomed into the IFBB pro fitness ranks.

The 2007 season began Grishina's journey into pro fitness and making her pro debut at the Europa Super Show in Dallas she landed 16th in the field and bewildered - if not completely confused - at her finish. Undaunted, she was encouraged to enter the All-Star Fitness Classic in Arkansas just two weeks later. There, she placed third and qualified for the Fitness Olympia. The turnaround was unprecedented, but it was more about judging panels becoming more familiar with her special brand of performance.

Since 2007, Grishina has been hugely popular among those who appreciate her abilities as a fitness competitor, but until this year she had never improved on that third-place showing in 2007 - much to the disappointment of her fan following. Over the past five years, Grishina has compiled several strong placings including a pair of fifth-place finishes at the 2010 and 2011 Fitness Olympia contests. She also placed fifth at the 2010 Fitness International, and fourth at the 2010 Phoenix Pro Fitness event.

But with the coming of 2012, Grishina caught a break by way of a rule change that would dramatically impact her presence in a fitness lineup. The new rule stipulated that 75% of the score in a fitness competition would be relegated to the fitness routine itself. It meant that her awe-inspiring fitness performances would no longer go under-appreciated. And the results of the rule change were immediate in Grishina's case.

Kicking off the 2012 competitive year, with Grishina entering her sixth year as a pro, she placed second to Adela Garcia at the Flex Pro Fitness contest in February. It was her highest finish since 2007. She followed up her runner-up finish at the Flex Pro with a third-place effort at the Fitness International, and the combination of those two competitions put her on a direct course with a winning effort at some point at the 2012 contest schedule.
Fast forward to St. Louis, Missouri, on March 17th. Oksana Grishina is entered in a field of nine contestants including Bethany Cisternino and a pair of always competitive Canadians - Allison Ethier and Danielle Ruban. All were vying for the St. Louis Pro Fitness title and $6,000 in prize money.
In the first round of judging Grishina and Cisternino set themselves apart from the rest of the group, and with the first tallies Cisternino took a one-point lead into the routine round. But it was at that point Grishina worked her magic. Elevating herself from a mere fitness competitor to that of a performance artist using a strong series of dynamic strength moves to go with a riveting stage persona, she quickly distanced herself from her pursuers and put an exclamation point on her first win as a pro.
The victory here came in Grishina's 14th contest effort in the pro ranks that has spanned just over five years. For virtually everyone who has watched fitness competitions over those five years, Grishina's win in St. Louis was long overdue. For Grishina, her performances all have a lyrical quality. She becomes a story teller. And for the time allotted to execute her routine she exudes plentiful doses of grace, style, finesse and beauty. The end result is an extremely rare moment in the display of female human physicality that is – at once – always entertaining and memorable. Bethany Cisternino placed second to Grishina collecting $2,000, with Canadian Danielle Ruban finishing third and earning $1,000. View Oksana Grishina's St Louis Pro Photos in the Contest Gallery.

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