| ABB | NPC Info Fitness and Bodybuilding |
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2000 NPC USA / 2000 NPC Team Universe Information By Jim Manion - NPC President |
Up first is the NPC USA Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships, promoted by Jon Lindsay in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 4 and 5. It has been one year since the event was away from the city that never sleeps. As a matter of fact it's been reported that Lindsay will be promoting this event in Las Vegas through 2002. As the second highest ranking national event in the NPC, and the first IFBB pro qualifier of the season, the USA has become a veritable hotbed for NPC athlete's wishing to make the jump to the pro's before the end of the season. There have been many surprises and plenty of action at this event over the years. Many remember the famous battle between Phil Hernon and Craig Titus in 1995, when Titus walked in as the favorite to win the overall and did not come away the champion, but became famous for the incident that followed. It was in 1996, when Lindsay took over promoting the event, that Titus returned to claim the overall. When Lindsay first brought the USA Championships to Las Vegas in 1997, a battle of truly epic proportions evolved with all the "name" athlete's basically not placing in the top five of their respective classes and a dark horse named Ken Brown stunned the strip by claiming the overall title from favorite Jason Arntz. Returning to Las Vegas in 1998, everyone seems to remember the great battle for first place in the super-heavyweight class between Dennis James and Melvin Anthony, Jr., who brought the house down with his posing. James went on to win the class and the overall that weekend. The 1997 and 1998 USA Championships also gave the IFBB two outstanding women's athletes in the form overall Lesa Lewis and Iris Kyle, both of whom have gone on to dominate the top five in just about every IFBB women's bodybuilding event they've since entered. Up until 1998, only the overall winners of the men's and women's bodybuilding were eligible to turn pro, so the battle as always fierce. To up the ante a bit, a motion was passed for the top two placers in the men's overall posedown would earn their IFBB pro cards. So, the men's overall took on even more significance in 1999. With the move back to southern California, Lindsay held the event at the Santa Monica Civic Center and attracted all of the top NPC west coast talent to the event. The favorite going into the contest was the aforementioned Melvin Anthony, Jr., but he'd have his hands full too. Anthony won the super-heavyweight class, but it was heavyweight class winner Garrett Downing who would be breathing down his neck in the overall. Downing was a veteran national-level competitor and he came prepared for battle. Although Anthony won the overall, due to the new rules, Downing was also awarded his pro card. Since the addition of fitness to the USA in 1996, there has been plenty of excitement in that event as well. The fitness competitors have more of an advantage by earning their pro cards at this event as there are still a few IFBB Pro Fitness events that take place following the USA Fitness Championships. In 1997, overall winner Jenifer Collins took the lead to enter an IFBB Pro Fitness event two weeks after winning and promptly qualified for the 1997 IFBB Fitness Olympia. In 1998, short class winner Jennifer Worth followed suit and found herself in Nice, France competing in her first IFBB Fitness Olympia. More recently, 1999 overall winner Adela Friedmansky, along with three other competitors that earned their pro cards in that same event - Jennifer Hendershott, Shannon Meteraud and D.J. Wallis - all placed in the top nine of the 2000 IFBB Fitness International. What makes the fitness portion so competitive is that the top two from each of the three women's fitness height class winners are eligible for professional status in the IFBB. Make you plans now to be there. The venue for the millennium's first NPC USA Championships will once again be the Artemus Ham Hall on the campus of UNLV, which hosted the contest in 1997 and 1998. The schedule of events starts August 4th at 5:30 p.m. with the men's bodybuilding and women's fitness One Piece Swimsuits pre-judging. The August 5th morning festivities, beginning at 9 a.m., will consist of the women's bodybuilding and women's fitness Two Piece Swimsuit and Fitness Routine pre-judging, with the 7 p.m. finals for all three contests that evening. Pre-judging ticket prices are $20.00 per pre-judging and features open seating. The finals ticket prices are $90.00 - $70.00 - $50.00, with all seats reserved. The host hotel will be the Alexis Park Hotel and Resort once more. Rate are $110.00 for either single or double. Call 1-800-582-2228 for reservations. Sponsors to date include Title Sponsor Bodyonics Pinnacle, Presenting Sponsor Biochem Sports and Fitness Systems, Feature Sponsor G.N.C., and Host Sponsors MET-Rx, Flex Magazine and Champion Nutrition. Supporting Sponsors to date include Universal Nutrition, Nutri-Sport, Iron-Tek, Musclelink, Worldwide Sports Nutrition, Hammer Strength, Max Muscle, Metabloic Response Modifiers, Gold's Gym, 24 Hour Fitness, Nutritional Technologies Inc., Human Development Technologies, Sports Nutrition Depot, MuscleMag International, Women's Physique World and NPC News. For tickets, entry forms or more information, contact Lindsay Productions at (310) 822-2397, fax (310) 822-2797, visit their web-site www.lindsayproductions.com, or you can also purchase tickets through Dillard's at 1-800-654-9545, or Performing Arts Center Box Office at (702) 895-3801. Remaining tickets will also be available the day of events. Just one week later, over the weekend of August 11th and 12th, in New York City, the team of Steve Karel and Steve Weinberger will promote the 2000 NPC Team Universe Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships for the sixth consecutive year. This contest is another IFBB pro qualifier. The Team Universe is the contest from which we select our team to represent the USA at the IFBB Men's and Women's World Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships. If a competitor wins their weight class at the World Amateur's, they are then eligible for IFBB Pro status. Each year this exciting, drug tested contest attracts more competitors with larger audiences'. Unfortunately our men's competitors haven't fared so well over the past few years due to political strife in the regions where the IFBB Men's World Amateur Championships have been held. We had to withdraw due to the political tension between our government and the host country's. Here's hoping we fare better in Y2K! On the upswing though, 1999 saw the first time in many years that we didn't have a repeating class winner come back to following year to become part of the team and had five all new members of the men's team. I expect them, and many former Team Universe class winners to return to vie for a slot on the team. The real advantage in this contest goes to the women's fitness competitors. Last year, many of the athlete's who just missed out on earning their pro cards at the USA Fitness Championships trekked cross country during the week to try their luck in the Big Apple, and it paid off for them. I'm sure that will be the case again this year. Many of them may be hoping to follow in the footsteps of 1998 overall champion Kelly Ryan, who had placed seventh in her class at the 1998 USA Fitness and then entered the Team Universe Fitness to win the overall. As you realize, Kelly was second at the 1999 IFBB Fitness Olympia and just won the 2000 IFBB Fitness International. One noticeable change for fitness this year is that only the class winner from each of the three fitness height classes are eligible for professional status in the IFBB. The schedule of events mimics the USA Championships with the men's pre-judging and fitness One Piece Swimsuit pre-judging Friday evening, the women's bodybuilding and fitness Two Piece Swimsuits and Fitness routines pre-judging on Saturday morning with the finals for all three contests that same evening. For more information, contact Steve Weinberger c/o Bev Francis' Gold's Gym, 235-C Robbins Lane, Syosset, NY, 11791 or call (516) 933-1111. From the looks of things, the desert will be sizzling with USA Championships action and it will be a hot time during the summer in the city for the Team Universe Championships. Two fantastic NPC national contests that shouldn't be missed and makes for a whirlwind of excitement from west to east. There will indeed be some hot August nights during these events! |