Well, what can we say?? The event was a spectacular one indeed!! When you're finished here, Check out more of the Arnold's!!
Sponsors: Cybex, Hummer, Life Fitness, Planet Hollywood, Star Trac, Twinlab, Weider Nutrition Group, World Gym Group, Diodatics, Jan Tana, Sun Industries, Otomix, Ricart, Universal Gym, World Gym Fitness Gear, Apex Fitness, and Surf City Squeeze
4th: Yolanda Hughes
5th: Valerie Gangi
6th: Michelle Ralabate
All Others: Andrulla Blanchette, Chris Bongiovanni, Astrid Falconi,
Sabine Froschauer, Ericca Kern, Joanne Lee, Cathy Lefrancois, Nancy Lewis,
Francesca Petitjean, and Paula Suzuki.
First and 2nd place winners were shoo-ins. There were no doubt at all about these women.
Yolanda Hughes was obviously disapponted with her placing. She maintained professional composure but I'm quite sure that I saw the disappointment in her eyes. Yep! Gayle managed to have schmoozed 2nd row seats for us so I'm not lying when I say we were able to see the whites of the competitors's eyes. Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah!!
Sabine Froschauer of Munich, Germany was repeatedly called out for comparison. She placed in the top ten. Her posing routine was terminator-like. Much too warlike for me. She used the robotic, machine-gun theme.
I was disappointed that Astrid Falconi of Toronto, Canada did not place in the top 10. I was also not happy with natural bodybuilder, Ericca Kern's placing. But the objective of the competition wasn't to make me happy any way.
Paula Suzuki was muscular but very flat in my opinion. Her water logged condition caused her to place 16 out of 16.
Kevin Levrone was simply awesome! He was not only in great shape but he eluded a sense of confidence and insurmountable muscularity. This most definitely won over the judges and he received the "Most Muscular" trophy for his efforts.
In my humble opinion, during prejudging, Paul Dillett looked very lethargic and lacked posing acumen. Gayle liken him to a '... martian with lats...'. His eyes were glazed over and he obviously was not in good physiological condition. He kept leaving the stage for water and to perform stretching movements. He seemed to be cramping quite a bit. I have to say that he received a gift from the judges in his placing.
Vince Taylor looked superb. I liked the way he exudes confidence on the stage. He's a poser without a doubt. Well, I think he should've minimized the lip synching just a tad. ;-)
So you probably understand why I felt great when this very machine measured my bodyfat
percentage at about 18%. Nothing like being just about 3% 'fatter' than
this ripped competitor! Michele Ralabate also took the test and came out at
about 15.1%. Hmmm... Supposedly this machine measures ALL of the fat in your
body unlike calipers, etc. Well, I don't know...Maybe we have fat BRAINS!
Unbelievable performer! -->
<-- These babes were trouble from the start!
<--Errica's the ONE!!
The 'almost most-embarrassing moment'
was while I was shooting a photo of Gayle
posing with
Kim, the Champ. Gayle stepped back
slightly in
preparation for the best photo of the night
when all of a sudden we heard this noise,
"SPLAT!!".
We were all perplexed as to where the noise
came from, when suddenly, we noticed that
Gayle had stepped on
!!
We all thought that was a hoot! Imagine the
look on
Gayle's face if Kim's fabulous black
outfit would've made fashion herstory!
(and Gayle would've been history)
<-- Very Charming!
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