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Published on Friday, 31 July 2009 02:46

With the history of women's bodybuilding recently passing the 30-year mark, and fitness and figure divisions now solidly in place, there have been numerous individuals, incidents, and just general factoids that have helped make the sport as interesting as the results of the contests themselves.

In this first of a series of re-occurring articles that will simply been known as ‘Did You Know?', I will endeavor to extract an accumulation of facts, figures, memorable quotes (both good and bad), and various other tidbits that you may not have heard, realized, or stumbled onto in the past.

Enjoy.

Did you know.............

Pennsylvanian Michele Ralabate was the 1994 NPC National lightweight and overall champion. A year later she won the 1995 Jan Tana Classic in her pro debut. Ralabate  followed up that victory with an eighth-place finish at the 1995 Ms. Olympia before deciding that fitness might be a better competitive career path due to her diminutive size (4-11, 130 pounds), and her extensive background in gymnastics. But the 1997 Ms. Olympia Fitness contest was less forgiving as she placed a distant 15^th in a field of 16.

Ralabate was also exceptionally strong for her size as witnessed by her two overall victories at the Women's Strength Extravaganza in the mid- 90's.  Among other records she established at this event, Ralabate performed an impressive 41 reps with her 130-pound bodyweight in the bench press.

During the course of Juliette Bergmann's long and distinguished competitive career she was a Dutch National champion, an IFBB European champion, an IFBB World Amateur champion, an IFBB Pro World champion, an IFBB Pro World Mixed Pairs champion, and Ms. Olympia.  Bergmann's comeback to win the 2001 Ms. Olympia after retiring in 1989 - a 12 year span - is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the history of women's bodybuilding. She was selected for induction into the Joe Weider Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in 2008.

Only one female Russian competitor has competed at the IFBB Ms. Olympia in the history of the contest.  Her name was Jana Babanina and she placed 14^th in the first Ms. Olympia Fitness contest in 1995.

The impressively muscled Helle Nielsen of Denmark placed a distant 10^th in the heavyweight class at the 1999 IFBB World Amateur Championships in Sydney, Australia.  But she more than redeemed herself by making her pro debut at the 2003 Jan Tana Classic and winning the event in unanimous fashion.  Neilsen's legs are still considered among the best ever.

Denise Rutkowski had one of the most successful years on record when she won the heavyweight and overall crown at the 1993 NPC USA, followed by a pro debut at the Jan Tana Classic where she was the unanimous winner. Rutkowski finished up the '93 season with a runner-up finish to Lenda Murray at the Ms. Olympia out-flexing, among others, Laura Creavalle, Kim Chizevsky, Yolanda Hughes, Nikki Fuller, Nancy Lewis, Diana Dennis, Laura Binetti, and Sharon Bruneau.

And speaking of Sharon Bruneau, many may remember this striking bodybuilder from Canada after she swept to the overall victory at the 1991 IFBB North American Championships with a beautifully constructed physique.  She would move on to compete in three Ms. Olympia contests (1992, '93 and '94), but after finishing 18^th in 1994 she made the switch to fitness and competed in the inaugural Ms. Olympia Fitness contest in 1995 placing 11^th.  Bruneau, along with Penny Price (who placed 10^th at the '95 Fitness Ms. O), were the first pro bodybuilders to make the switch from bodybuilding to fitness at the Ms. Olympia level.

The first fitness contestant to step on stage at the inaugural Ms. Olympia was Michigan's Lauren Elliott.  The contest was held at the Atlanta Convention Center in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 9, 1995.  Elliott, who placed 14^th, was contestant number one. Mia Finnegan was the first Olympia Fitness winner.

The first pro figure competitor to step on stage at an IFBB pro figure event was Canadian Elaine Goodlad at the Ms. International in Columbus, Ohio, on February 28, 2003.  Jenny Lynn won that inaugural contest and Goodlad, who placed sixth, was contestant number one.

Spain's dynamic Susana Alonso won the heavyweight and overall crowns at the 1998 IFBB World Amateur Championships. She elected not to turn professional. In fact, she dropped from the competitive scene entirely until 2005 - seven years later. When she re-surfaced, she was entered once again in the IFBB World Amateur Championships, this time as a bodyfitness contestant. Sporting blonde hair, and considerably less muscle, she failed to make the top 15 in her height class - a surprising result considering her aesthetic structural shapes and bodylines - further proof that bodybuilders who elect to make the switch to bodyfitness/figure have a difficult, if not impossible, road to travel.

When Suzanne Germano won the recent overall title at the 2009 NPC Junior Nationals, she was the first competitor from Illinois to win the overall crown since 1992.  Her state mate and fellow overall Junior National winner that year was future Ms. Olympia Kim Chizevsky.

Carmen Brady snagged a cameo role as the bodybuilder wife ‘Starla' in the ultra-popular 2004 movie Napolean Dynamite, but her onstage bodybuilding exploits have been much more extensive than her film career.  Brady, who began competing in 1982, was the heavyweight and overall winner at the 1993 NPC Junior USA and 1994 NPC Junior Nationals.  Equally impressive is the fact that she has entered the NPC USA contest a total of TEN times between 1988 and 2000! Brady competed as recently as last year placing fourth at the NPC Masters Nationals in the heavyweight class.

Among the many notable names of competitors who began to blossom in 1982 was New Yorker Gladys Portugues. A lightweight winner at the Ms. New York Metropolis contest in 1982, she would move on (after winning her class at the 1983 Night of Champions) to compete in the 1984 and '85 Ms. Olympia contests placing seventh and eighth respectively.  Later, Portugues would marry and have children with actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.  During her bodybuilding career, Portugues was a popular cover model with appearances on Muscle & Beauty, Strength Training for Beauty, Muscle & Fitness, FLEX, Muscle Training Illustrated, Women's Strength Periodical, American Photographer, Details, Inside Kung Fu: Hardbodies, and countless foreign publications such as Pleine Forme, Panorama, the Italian ‘Photo Magazine', among others.  Portugues was also featured in the movie Pumping Iron 2: The Women.

On October 16, 1982 a bodybuilding newcomer named Diana Dennis won the now-defunct Saddleback Valley Muscle Classic in Orange County, California.  Dennis, who lived in the area, was talked into entering the contest by gym owner Dan Howard.  Dennis had begun weight training to merely maintain her physical condition and stay fit.

In short order she became one of the bodybuilding's top competitors winning the overall crown at the 1985 NPC Nationals before turning pro - a journey that would see her win the 1989 Pro World Championships along with nine entries in the Ms. Olympia. Her distinguished competitive accomplishments in tandem with her artistic approach to displaying her physique - which included many amateur and pro mixed pairs victories with partner Kevin Lawrence - led to her being inducted into Joe Weider's Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in 2001.

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