Articles The Wennerstrom Report 2013 New York Pro: Juliana, The Brazilian “IT” Girl Defends Her New York Pro Crown
2013 New York Pro: Juliana, The Brazilian “IT” Girl Defends Her New York Pro Crown
By Steve Wennerstrom, IFBB Women's Historian
There is a two-letter word saved for very special women. Silent 
screen star Clara Bow made it famous in 1927. She was called the “IT” girl. The term became part of the cultural lexicon. And as any competitor or fan of bodybuilding knows, bodybuilding has it's own very unique lexicon of terms to describe the nuances of the sport. But on May 25th at the Tribeca Theatre in Manhattan, transplanted Brazilian Juliana Malacrane became the “IT” girl of the Pro Women's Physique division. For rabid fans and purists who hold Juliana in the highest regard, the “IT” girl moniker could have just as easily been used as early as last year at this same contest when she emerged as the popular winner and a living, breathing image of just what the judges and administrators envisioned as an idyllic look for the new Physique division at the highest level. Some may feel her “IT” girl image may be premature There is, afterall, a lot of Pro Physique action left this year, and the winner of the first Ms. Olympia in Physique has yet to be crowned. So in fairness, we all need to play wait and see on the predictions. But Juliana Malcarne's win here in a field of 30 contestants certainly seems to put her in the driver's seat.
There is also the reality that Juliana is far from an overnight success. In fact, if there really is such a thing as 'dues paying', she's done her share of it many times over. Here's a little background.
During her days in Brazil she
was a successful fitness and figure competitor winning National, South American and Ibero American Championships titles dating back to 1999. Then in 2005 she won the IFBB World Amateur Bodyfitness Championship. She turned pro in 2006, and with it she began a rugged journey in her years of disappointing, demoralizing, even embarrassing pro figure contest entries.
How bad was it? In 2007 she finished 13th at the California Pro Figure, 16th at the Colorado Pro and 21st at the Pittsburgh Pro. Two thousand eight, 2009 and 2010 was more of the same. She was hammered at every quarter turn. All the while looking beautiful with a body that both men and women admired as an ideal. But alas, she was simply too muscular for the figure criteria. In 2011 she stepped away from the competitive stage, and with the knowledge that a new Physique division was coming in 2012, she put her energies into preparing for that eventuality. And with that prospect came her entry in the New York Pro Championships. It was a big contest with 29 contestants. And as everyone now knows, Juliana Malacarne , at 5-2 and a shapely 119 pounds rose above the rest and into the minds of many as the idyllic Physique competitor. Was she excited? Surely. It had been seven years since she won a contest. And this time she even won a cash prize. But on the down side there was no contest reward, i.e. no Ms. Olympia experience for winners of the Pro Physique division in 2012. So, her re-entry in the 2013 New York Pro event held two important elements. She needed to qualify for the 2013 Ms. Olympia, and in entering, she would make an attempt at defending the title of what everyone considers a major pro contest.
As the defending champion there always exists that added stress of repeating a sterling performance – ask any Mr. or Ms. Olympia what it's like to come back knowing the entire field is gunning for you. In Juliana's case, that feeling is something she had never experienced. A keen eye could detect her level of nervousness on stage this time around. A newcomer to winning back-to-back major contests is uncharted waters and could be considered something akin to a five-year-old piano-playing prodigy who really has no idea why he or she can pound the keys and out comes the music of Mozart or Bach. The beauty of the music simply spills out, and so it was with Juliana. The only difference was that her beauty is the external display of a physical kind. Rare. Easy on the eyes. Fluid physicality. And certainly not seen at every contest. The result of her victory here was to her liking – obviously. Joyous in fact. A relief to be sure. It had a very special meaning. And the $3,000 cash prize was icing on the cake. On a chilly evening in New York, her dream of making her way to the Olympia stage had become a reality - in a unanimous way - and with it now comes a whole new set of thought processes she will need to deal with as s
he moves towards the biggest contest of her 14-year career. Next, she will get on with her quest to maintain a level of perfection that fits an ever-changing look among her fellow competitors in a new division. But for now, she becomes the latest Brazilian to win a Physique division event. The fourth in as many shows this year. And she won't be the last. There are more Brazilians where the trio of Mello, Malacarne and Nascimento came from.
So, as Frank Sinatra made famous in his rendition of the tune New York, New York (the city's national anthem), some of the lyrics were prophetic on this night.........”I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps. And now I'm king of the hill, top of the list, head of the heap, king of the hill..........Start spreading the news...........New York, New York.
This contest also held a special meaning for another Brazilian. Fresh from her win at the Optimum Classic just two weeks earlier in Louisiana and looking to add this New York Pro contest to her growing contest resume was Karina Nascimento . The only problem was that fellow Brazilian Juliana Malacarne was ready to block her path. By comparison to Malacarne, Nascimento carried a very different overall look to this lineup. At 5-4 (two inches taller than Juliana), Nascimento was also carrying an additional 17 pounds of highly conditioned muscle and w
eighing 136 compared to Malacarne's 119 pounds. While the two used their own unique brands of stage persona to display their physiques (with both women drawing loud and favorable responses from the NY crowd) they presented vastly different physical structures during the prejudging rounds. Yet judges still saw the duo as the top competitors in the field. As a winner of the inaugural Pro Physique event - the Desert Muscle Classic - last year, followed by a another victory at the '12 Valenti Gold Cup, Nascimento's stock remains very high as the Olympia approaches, and she gladly accepted her check for $2,000 as the runner-up finisher. And now that all three Brazilians – Patricia Mello, Malacarne and Nascimento - are qualified for the Ms. O, the building of the remainder of the Olympia field becomes very interesting with an additional six Pro Physique contests on tap over the next three months with a potential for six different winners in those events. And those six events will bring, familiar faces and physiques, newcomers from both Figure and Bodybuilding, and the always inevitable 'unknown entities'.
With the first call-out of the prejudging, the group of five included Malacarne, Nascimento, Toni West, Nathalie Foreau from France, and Teresita Morales – another New Yorker with a strong hometown following. With Malacarne and Nascimento drawing most of the attention, it was 2012 NPC National overall Physique winner Toni West who made the most of her opportunity to make a strong first impression in her pro debut. At 5-6 and weighing in the vicinity of 130 pounds, she stood her ground well and showed excellent overall structural balance and muscle shapes. In our old high school yearbooks we all remember the guy and girl who were voted 'Most Likely to Succeed'. Here, that statement could easily be attributed to Toni West. Her third-place finish in this big field with several high quality contestants plants her squarely in the driver's seat to snap up a victory at an upcoming Pro Physique event. Beyond that, her ultimate potential may be limitless depending on how long she decides to remain active at the highest pro level. She has all the tools to make noise in the immediate future. Several the female members of the audience expressed a rhapsodic opinion about her look in that it most closely adhered to the initial criteria that was announced in 2011. The reality is she only needs to fill out slightly and add more detail to her overall look and legs in particular. Of course none of that means that she needs a major engine overhaul. Far from it. Toni West is on the right track. Her cash prize for her third-place finish came to $1,000, and there will be more where that came from in the coming months and years.
A second call-out in prejudging brought Jillian
Reville, Joele Smith and Jill Rudison into closer scrutiny with their comparison to Foreau and Morales after Malacarne, Nascimento and West had been sent back to the lineup. Of that trio Joele Smith pulled herself into a top five placement – so much so she leap-frogged over Morales and bumped the aesthetically pleasing Nathalie Foreau out of the top five. In the final tallies, Smith finished in a solid fourth-place position. But her strength as a top-five placer is no great surprise considering she placed fourth at the Europa Show of Champions and third at the Optimum Pro Classic – both this year. At a statuesque 5-8, 140 pounds she may well find herself in the winner's circle at one of those six upcoming events leading to the Olympia.
The battle for the remaining two available points to be gained in the Olympia qualification system as well as who would occupy the fifth and sixth place spots was left to a struggle between Teresita Morales and Nathalie Foreau. Coincidentally, it was also two points that separated them with Morales totaling 26 capturing the fifth-place spot, and Foreau right behind with 28 and landing sixth.
The Remainder of the Top Ten:
7- Jillian Reville, Ridgefield, Connecticut 35
8- Jill Rudison, Venice, California 40
9- Sheilahe Brown, Irving, Texas 45
10-Jennie Verdi, Highland, New York 52
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