2008 Arnold Amateur Figure - Class E Preview
FigureRX Online Magazine Volume 3
February 10, 2008
Official 2008 Arnold Amateur Figure Class E Preview
Figure Class E goes up to a dozen competitors deep in top national (and international) level talent, and with the new height cut-off features a lot of tall athletes as well. Figure E includes height class champions from Texas, Florida, and the Emerald Cup, just to name a few. There's a beautiful model from Canada, one of the best physiques in Argentina, a member of Team Performance Ready, an NFL running back's wife, and a Tennessee class winner who has worked with Ms. Figure Olympia. There are up to seven athletes who we think could win this class including our spotlight competitor, Australian
Gabriela Cioban.
Class E Old Height Class: Over 5'5†and up to and including 5'6†(22 athletes)
Class E New Height Class: Over 5'5-1/2†and up to and including 5'7†(24 athletes)
The original competitor lists used the old height classes, but all athletes will be measured and placed in the new height classes on site. We have already moved several competitors and the list and preview that you see below has been adjusted to the best of our knowledge. If we have not been able to reach someone to make an adjustment we will make the correction in the contest reports!!
FigureRX Class E Spotlight Athlete - Gabriela Cioban
The more we see and hear about the figure scene in Australia the more we like it. At
FigureRX we've already put on our to-do list for 2009 to offer Arnold sponsorship for an IFBB pro to compete in the Figure International, *just* in case travel costs are a factor to the selection committee.
Rosa-Maria Romero and
Arina Manta are a superstar tandem combining beauty, physique and business acumen - we absolutely love them!!
But given the consistent talent level and excellence, we can't have too many competitors from down under and there is a third rising star who we think is ready to join their ranks ... and she is our spotlight athlete for Figure Class E.
Gabriela Cioban is 25 years old and she hails from Melbourne in Victoria on the southern coast, and she has a string of titles already including the 2007 Miss NABBA International Figure Tall Class, IFBB Victorian State, Australian Nationals, and the Australasian Championships. Gabi's biggest strengths include her abs and her biceps, but she truly will be bringing a total package to this stage.
To see Gabriela's spotlight interview please go
here.
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NPC Figure Arnold Gabriela Cioban Melbourne Victoria Australia
We've had our eye on Alaska native and Las Vegas resident
Jennifer Reynolds ever since she was overlooked at the USA's in 2007, and we think she is poised for a breakthrough year in 2008. Her long legs make her look taller than 5'6" while she has upper body development that is rare on a taller competitor, and she brings standout arms and abs. Her suit didn't quite fit her correctly when she competed in Las Vegas so if she polishes up her presentation slightly she will be a solid top five at the Arnold.
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NPC Figure Arnold Jennifer Reynolds Henderson Nevada
At age 21 and in the "you've got to be kidding" category, Texan
Celeste Bonin already has one of the best lower bodies in the entire sport. She is a former high school soccer star and it shows. In fact her wheels remind us a lot of
Danielle Rouleau's, with her combination of size, sweep, separation, and tiny joints. Celeste is obviously gorgeous with a total package from head to toe and her first step outside of Texas to compete should set her off on a laser beam to the top of the sport. We'll attempt to learn more about her in Columbus.
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NPC Figure Arnold Celeste Bonin Houston Texas
We also think that
Klubo Rachel is primed to challenge at the top of this class. She won her height class at one of the top regional events in the country in 2006, the Emerald Cup, and she has impressed us during every trip to the national stage since that time. The progress pics are coming in right on track, Klubo always has great muscle shape and size, especially with her back and quads, and you can see a few photos from February 23rd by going
here. We are impressed!!
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NPC Figure Arnold Klubo Rachel Flingai Seattle Washington
We don't want to pimping out the potato heads too much, but Floridian
Tami Delzenero is ricekakes on bodyspace. She and her other half stayed at the
Team FigureRX host hotel at last year's Arnold, so we kept running into her in the restaurant, and frankly she looked ready to compete nationally even then. Tami has a couple of second place finishes under her belt including the 2007 NPC Southern States and the 2007 NPC Anna Level, and she was out spotlight athlete for the second show. We're really glad to see her testing herself here before getting ready to do nationals.
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NPC Figure Arnold Tami Delzenero Ricekakes Ft. Fort Lauderdale Florida
Canadian beauty
Natalie Waples turned some heads when she arrived at the 2007 North Americans with her pink posing suits and placed 4th in Class C, even though her physique was softer than the rest of the top five. Some competitors just have that something special, and Natalie is one of them, and as she continues to add muscle to conform to NPC standards she will only do better. It will be exciting to see the progress that she has made.
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NPC Figure Arnold Natalie Waples Ottawa Ontario Canada
Argentinian competitor
Viviana Casarubbia was new to us, but we like what we see especially on the modeling side. Viviana is a pure beauty, with great muscle shapes and a perfect complexion. It has been difficult to get a handle on how she might appear on stage because the lighting has been poor in the event photos that we have seen, and the blurriness has made her look pretty big. But we're extrapolating and betting that she's going to present an impressive package in Columbus.
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NPC Figure Arnold Viviana Casarubbia Argentina
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-----Competing in 2008? Get the full state and local NPC contest schedule right here on
FigureRX.
-----Updated almost daily, click
HERE.
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Dawnice Beckley has moved over from Class F and she has an extensive contest history which you can see below. Dawnice has great biceps and abs and she placed 6th at this event last year.
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NPC Figure Arnold Dawnice Beckley Lancaster Ohio
Kate Heath is another of the impressive group that will be arriving from Utah, and she is a correctional officer and a fitness trainer. Kate has a great overall shape, but has been a little inconsistent with her conditioning. If she can dial everything in the way that she did at the Emerald Cup then she can be a factor in this height class and at national level shows.
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NPC Figure Arnold Kate Heath Salt Lake City Utah
French competitor
Marie-Pierre Ripert has a background in swimming and is married to Olivier Ripert, a world bodybuilding champion. Marie is genetically gifted with tiny joints, a small waist, and long muscle bellies, and she can really dial in her conditioning. To state the obvious, her placing will likely depend on how the judging panel, which is half international, scores the harder and more muscular physiques.
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NPC Figure Arnold Marie-Pierre Ripert La Ciotat France
Our Tampa correspondent has been working hard to connect with
Melissa Pittman, who is married to Tampa Bay Buccaneers backup running back Michael Pittman. Melissa is an entrepreneur who in the past has owned Smoothie King franchises. She first competed in figure in Texas, at the 2007 Europa where she placed 4th in Class C.
Angie Ratliff's home town of Canal Winchester is just southeast of Columbus, so she'll be making a short drive in order to show off her very impressive figure lines. Angie took 6th in Figure Medium at the very competive 2007 NPC Mike Francois, and we really like her calves, hamstrings, forearms and the very pleasing overall package that she presents.
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NPC Figure Arnold Michael Melissa Pittman Tampa Florida Bay Bucs Angie Ratliff Canal Winchester Ohio
Of course when we see an impressive competitor from Colorado she must be part of Team Performance Ready!
Jaime Meade is a physical therapist specializing in pediatrics, which sounds like a great career, and her contest history speaks for itself with a 1st place at the 2007 Carla Sanchez Fitness Fiesta and the overall title at the competitive NPC Natural Colorado Open. We believe that Jaime is destined to follow in the footsteps of other Colorado greats like
Jessica Steffens and
Jacqui Skibba (the latter is pro card bound this year) based on her pronounced V-shape, particularly her delt to waist ratio.
Lisa Peper is a rising star from Tennessee who has worked with Jenny Lynn. Lisa placed 1st in Figure B and won the overall at the NPC Greater Knox Classic and also won the B Class at NPC Tennessee State Figure.
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NPC Figure Arnold Jaime Meade Parker Colorado Lisa Peper Old Hickory Tennessee
Kansas competitor
Juliet Banks is back with a vengeance after taking two decades off from bodybuilding, and she recently competed at the NPC Kansas State Figure Championships and placed 3rd in Figure C. She has three children and runs Bodies by Design in Topeka, along with her husband, and received some local media coverage which you can find
here.
FigureRX was on hand to see
Elizabeth Earhart compete at the NPC Palm Beach Amateur, and we were very impressed with her conditioning. She placed 3rd in Class C and won the Figure 40+ division.
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NPC Figure Arnold Juliet Banks Topeka Kansas Elizabeth Earhart Odessa Florida
Amity Hall from California has great arms but we'll be looking to see if she has dialed in her conditioning a bit more relative to her 5th place showing in Class E at the 2007 Excalibur. You can find out everything about Hawaiian
Heather Jones by checking out this news article
here, while we have no information on
Laurie Eldredge from Connecticut.
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NPC Figure Arnold Amity Hall Folsom California Heather Jones Aiea Hawaii Laurie Eldredge Pomfret Center Connecticut
Christine Kluger is the 2007 NPC Southern Indiana overall figure champion.
Lucinda Witte from Rancho Cordova is a personal trainer with an incredibly inspiring physique, especially considering that she began lifting weights only four years ago after the birth of her fifth child. Lucinda took 2nd place in Class C at the 2007 NPC Steel Rose and won the Figure Medium class at the 2007 NPC Northern Classic. Finally, we want to recognize one of our Class E favorites,
Angela Kirkland from Missouri, who was preparing for the show but had to postpone competing due to some family occurances. We wish her the absolute best and know that she will be instantly successful as soon as she hits the stage.
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NPC Figure Arnold Christine Kluger Indianapolis Indiana Lucinda Witte Ranco Rancho Cordova California
Not Competing
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NPC Figure Arnold Sonya Garner Dallas Georgia
