Throwback Thursday | The Day the Ms. Olympia was Saved!
The Day the Ms. Olympia was Saved!
Throwback Thursday: 1999
The Ms. Olympia contest peaked in 1985 when it played out before a 5,000 sell out crowd at the Felt Forum, housed inside New York’s Madison Square Garden, and teams from NBC, The New York Times and Sports Illustrated mixed with the standard bodybuilding media. From that high the popularity of event decreased substantially over the next decade. In 1998, former Czech champion, Jarka Schneider, one of the most passionate fans of bodybuilding on the planet, staged a successful Ms. O in her country’s capital, Prague.
The next year the redoubtable Jarka decided to move the contest to Santa Monica, the home of bodybuilding, and it was scheduled to take place on October 9, 1999. In the weeks before the contest it became apparent that tickets sales were sluggish and sufficient sponsorship wasn’t coming through. I have to say that Jarka did not receive the level of support she should have done from the correct quarters.
Thus, on Thursday September 9, 1999, one month before the scheduled event, came the bombshell announcement that the contest had been cancelled. (For how some of the competitors responded to the news, see GUT REACTION sidebar below.) IFBB/NPC stalwarts Bob Bonham and the late and sadly missed Kenny Kassel, who were promoting the Women’s Extravaganza on October 2, in Secaucus, New Jersey, a Ms. O qualifier, came forward and said they would be willing to stage the canceled event in tandem with their contest. But the $50,000 prize money and flight costs would have to come from elsewhere: They would take care of hotel costs and other sundry items.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
I approached Wayne DeMilia, then head of the IFBB Pro Division, and taking the line that as a mark of respect to the qualified athletes who had been training all year, been dieting for months, and been loyal to the IFBB over the long haul that the federation should come through with the funds. That proposal was declined. My next port of call would be Joe Weider, who over that weekend was in Europe and couldn't be contacted: He would be back in the LA office on Monday, September 13. My higher-ups at Weider told me to forget the idea; the company shouldn’t come to the rescue.
But I had faith in Joe, and I told Wayne we would get the funding once I’d talked to him. By now it was Friday and the competitors had known for 24 hours that the contest had been cancelled and were blowing their diets. Wayne and I split the line up in two and began calling them individually to say get back on the diet, the show will go ahead on October 2, one week before the original date for the Ms. O.
I rang Chad Nichols, husband and guru of reigning champ Kim Chizevsky, and told him to get Kim back on contest prep track. Understandably, he had his doubts, but broke off to shout to Kim, “No pizza tonight.” I also spoke to Yolanda Hughes, who didn’t really know me -- we’d had little interaction -- and at first she thought I was an old British schmoe working an angle or two with her.
Come the afternoon of Monday, September 13, and I met with Joe in his office. He told me that he had already been advised by his senior executives not to financially back the contest. But I appealed to his bodybuilding heart, and quite honestly it was not a hard sell and he agreed to come up with the money.
So it was set, the Women’s Extravaganza would take place on the afternoon of October 2, with the Ms. O being staged in the evening. For the Extravaganza the top three would earn an Olympia invite for later in the day. As it turned out the winner Laura Creavalle and third placed Yaxeni Oriquen had qualified earlier in the year, so runner-up Brenda Raganot was the only newcomer added to the eleven who had already booked their berths.
At the end of that historic day Kim Chizevsky, in spectacular form, cruised to her fourth and final Ms. O title. (For other placings see table below).
CONCLUSION AND THE FUTURE
The 1999 Ms. Olympia was a watershed for the contest that was first established in 1980. From that last year of the century it was clear the contest on its own couldn't attract enough paying customers or the sponsorship dollars to make it financially viable. Therefore from 2000 until 2014 it was staged in tandem with the men's open and other classes over the Olympia Weekend. In 2015 the contest was removed from the IFBB calendar, as the newly formed Women’s Physique Division gained ground among fans and athletes. Manfully, and womanfully, women’s bodybuilding advocates Jake and Krystal Wood stepped up to the plate. This high energy and buffed couple out of Chicago founded Wings of Strength back in 2011 to ensure that there are meaningful stage opportunities for women to compete in bodybuilding pro shows. Thus, they in tandem with promoter Tim Gardner, staged the 2015 IFBB Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships as the main event for women’s professional bodybuilding last year. It was held on August 22, in San Antonio, with a record $100,000 in prize money. The event is scheduled for its second rendition later in the year: Date yet to be announced.
1999 MS, OLYMPIA
Secaucus, New Jersey: October 2, 1999
FULL RESULTS
1) Kim Chizevsky USA $25,000
2) Vickie Gates USA $10,000
3) Laura Creavalle Guyana $7,000
4) Iris Kyle USA $4,000
5) Lesa Lewis USA $3,000
6) Tazzie Colomb USA $1,000
7) Andrulla Blanchette England
8) Laura Binetti Canada
9) Brenda Raganot USA
10) Yaxeni Oriquen Venezuela
11) Gayle Moher USA
12) Valentina Chepiga Ukraine
GUT REACTION
IFBB Historian Steve Wennerstrom asked some of the competitors for their reaction on first hearing the news that the 1999 Ms. Olympia was cancelled.
Andrulla Blanchette: “That’s bullshit!”
Kim Chizevsky: “I’m going to Pizza Hut.”
Gayle Moher: “I teared up and started shaking. The next day I just told myself I had the time to paint the bathroom.”
Iris Kyle: “My motivation went south right away. My first opportunity to compete in the Ms. Olympia had been taken away from me, like it had been stolen. I couldn't believe it.”
Vicki Gates: “I grabbed my daughter Kindra and said, ‘Let's go to the ice cream parlor.’”
Laura Binetti: “I was just devastated -- the depression is hard to describe.”
Lesa Lewis: “Fuck!”