Chicago 2014: Olympia Bound

by 6ft1swellJuly 12, 2014

We begin a seven-day celebration of the ladies at last weekend’s Wings of Strength Chicago Pro with those who left the stage with a date in Vegas in September. Out of a grand total of eighty-four competitors across Fitness, Figure, Physique and Bodybuilding, this quartet of champions are now bound for the Olympia.

WINNER: Fitness
FIONA HARRIS

Canadian fitness winner Fiona Harris is now anticipating her third consecutive appearance at the Fitness Olympia. Words cannot express how excited I am to win, how shocked, she told RxMuscle, no surprise when you learn that this was her first win as a pro (a common theme among the Chicago champs this year, we will find).

Apparently, raising her game in the “Routine Round” was the key to her win. Typically Fiona doesn’t fare as well in the routine rounds, Hardbody News reported, but not on this occasion. The former gymnast won both the routine round and the “Physique Round”. In fact, she finished way ahead, the clear winner on the judges’ scorecard. For her to take the win in both rounds is a huge improvement, the report continues, and “a huge improvement” is probably just what Fiona will be looking for in Vegas in September, as her previous Olympia finishes have been 12th (last year) and 14th.

From start to finish, the events of the weekend far exceeded my expectations, Fiona told her Facebook followers a few days after her victory. To earn my first IFBB Pro Fitness win and a qualification for the 50th Olympia is truly a dream come true.

WINNER: Figure
CYDNEY GILLON

Here at FMS we’re not always the most attentive of the brethren towards the wonderful women who compete in the Figure division, but we have never been able to ignore Cydney Gillon‘s tiny waist, nor her beautifully broad shoulders. Do you see the V? How much more V could she be? And nor are we immune to this former collegiate athlete’s many other qualities either, not least that absolutely dazzling smile.

It’s been an eventful few months for her. She called time on her athletics career, graduated, and was also featured right here on FMS for the first time – in April, see Mirror, Mirror, and a couple of more recent posts featuring the beautiful Ms Gillon. Now she has her first pro victory in her second pro year, and can look forward to her Olympia debut. Perhaps not quite as good as being on FMS again, but definitely better than the proverbial poke in the eye, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time.

In the Figure division, we saw rising star Cydney Gillon shine her brightest yet, Hardbody News said. Gosh, if she starts to shine any brighter (sorry to go on about it and all, but that smile must light up whole auditoriums), we’re going to need darker shades than the ones we’ve got. The 21-year old has huge potential, Hardbody News reckons. We’d better get down to Specsavers before she does us permanent damage.

WINNER: Physique
LEILA THOMPSON

Edging out last year’s Chicago physique champ and FMS fave Jamie Pinder (don’t fret, we’ll be all over Jamie later in the week), Leila Thompson is the third first pro title winner, and will make her Olympia debut this year. I’ve not even ever been, Leila (pronounced Lee-AY-la, apparently) gushed to RxMuscle after stepping off stage.

She won because of pinpoint conditioning, nice overall structural balance, excellent detail in all her bodyparts, and a stage presence that seems to grow with each passing contest, according to Steve Wennerstrom, and I am not going to argue with a man who wears a stetson. And her win is all the more remarkable when you consider that this time last year, she was going home having finished down in 12th!

Leila says, I’m going to take a week off, enjoy some food… Then get back at it.

WINNER: Bodybuilding
MARIA RITA BELLO

And finally, Rita Bello may be going to her second Ms Olympia in a row, but she’ll be going for the first time as a pro champion. The woman dubbed “The Argentinian Anatomy Chart” triumphed over 18 other women – a big big line-up in every sense.

The man in the stetson (I’ve got to get me one of those) has nothing but praise for the 50, yes, 50-year-old Argentinian. For the last 17 years, she has brought the same level of muscular definition to each contest she has entered. Virtually every part of her structure is lathered with highly defined groups of muscle tissue. Her back, real delts, triceps, gluteal tie-ins and pecs that are striated right up to her clavicles are all primary focal points of her physique. Even in repose, she appears flexed, he says, adding that in the decades that have passed since women’s bodybuilding has taken hold, few, if any women have displayed her level of chiseled muscularity.

So, that’s three from three for South American female bodybuilders in this year’s pro shows, a good week for Argentina all round, and a great week for Rita Bello, Leila Thompson, Cydney Gillon and Fiona Harris. All four of them Olympia bound.

Congratulations to them on their first pro wins!

And we’ll be in Chicago all week. Enjoy!

FMS Ms O Countdown: South American Beasts

by 6ft1swellSeptember 24, 2013

Anne Freitas was huge, muscular, rock hard and ultra-conditioned, Real Female Bodybuilding reported after the Toronto Pro. When she was only awarded second place in favour of the much less muscular Jennifer Scarpetta she shot a look across the Toronto stage that was one part disgust, one part disbelief, and about 10 parts pure female bodybuilder fury.

Many felt the judges’ choice of Scarpetta was a political one, the report continues. Jennifer’s superbly muscled and beautifully aesthetic body over the pure freaky mass of runner-up Freitas and third place Rita Bello. However, the report also noted that if the Toronto Pro was all about muscle then there was a good argument for the monumentally muscular Rita being outright winner!

I get the impression that these two women cause IFBB judges to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Perhaps the judges’ nightmares are due to the prospect of some genuine ‘female bodybuilder fury’ being unleashed against them, or that one or more of Anne or Rita’s fans will hunt them down. Or maybe they just wake up in a cold sweat because they are at a loss as to how to mark these two freaky South American beasts in the context of the current climate in the IFBB towards female bodybuilding.

When Rita took 4th at the Tampa Pro in 2011 (the freakiest, hardest woman in the show according to Dave Palumbo, who added, I don’t think I’ve ever seen conditioning on a woman like this before) the lovers of hardcore muscle women immediately fell for her. At the same contest in 2012, in much the same condition, she finished 12th.

Meanwhile, Anne had won the contest in Hartford last year and marched triumphantly to her first Ms O having gained a legion of fans for her ultra-conditioned self.

This year, both of them have been runners-up, Anne amid the controversy in Toronto, Rita in Chicago. As the Argentinian P.E. teacher (imagine!) had also finished 3rd in Toronto, she finished top of the qualification points table, and achieved her dream and goal to participate on the Ms Olympia stage.

The South American beasts and their freaky mass will both be on that stage on Friday. Just a few more sleepless nights for the judges until then.

MARIA RITA BELLO (Arg)