Amber alert: Jenny Lynn wins again at the Figure International, besting Monica Brant, Susie Curry and … Amber Littlejohn?

Muscle & Fitness, June, 2004 by Jeff O'Connell

JENNY LYNN WON the 2004 Figure International contest.

More on that in a minute, but where in the world did Amber Littlejohn come from? Not having attended the NPC National Figure Championships in 2003--where, it seems, Amber earned the procard all competitors dream of winning--I had never beheld her until she made her way gingerly in high heels toward the pump-up area backstage at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio, moments before she would stand onstage to be judged along with her peers.

I would find out later that Amber stands 5'8", but backstage she towered over the other competitors, some of whom clear 5' only on tiptoes. Amber looked larger than life in contrast.

Nearby, an onlooker suggested that the 28-year-old's round face and wide eyes recall ET, but those two share little more than the fresh glow of innocence. Granted, Amber's locomotion is kind of awkward, especially in heels, but her long legs are shaky in the appealing way that a young colt's are. Come to think of it, that adjective is as good as any for describing her. Amber Littlejohn is coltish.

Her high heels would be responsible for the most amazing athletic move of the entire Arnold Fitness Weekend, trumping the lightning serves of table tennis players, the derring-do of swordsmen, the high-on-life energy of prepubescent cheerleaders, the acrobatics of gymnasts, the power kicks of martial artists and the ridiculous lifts of strongmen.

By the time Amber appeared onstage Friday night at the Figure show, many women had been assessed before her, all thoroughly oiled. As she walked toward thousands of strange eyes, all trained on her exposed body, the unthinkable happened: Amber's left heel suddenly slid out from under her 130-pound frame.

Perhaps the sole of her pump hit an oil slick left behind by a fitness competitor during one of her tumbles. Maybe nerves overrode her balance. We may never be certain of the trigger, but Amber's left knee buckled, and, like a tree being cross-cut at its base--Amberrrrrrr!--her lengthy body teetered on the verge of collapse, seemingly in slow motion. The audience gasped before she miraculously regained her footing. And they say these women aren't athletes.

"You know, you have nightmares like that, and that was pretty much the worst-case scenario," said Amber afterward, laughing. "It's always great to slip at your first pro show in front of 7,000 people. The only thing that could have happened that didn't is that my top could have popped off."

Oh, back to the top three. This was Jenny Lynn's second consecutive victory at the Figure International, and it was the second time in a row that she one-upped Monica Brant here. The latter has yet to add a Figure title to her distinguished Fitness resume.

But there's just something about this Amber Littlejohn that makes all of that seem less earth-shaking that it normally would. On her eponymous website, the Northern California resident has written about the source of her mysterious exotica: "My father is a South Carolina mix of African-American and Cherokee, and my mother, a fiery Irish lass from outside of Chicago."

An interview with Amber after the show revealed the following additional information: She is a huge Court TV fan. She's religious but drops the F-bomb frequently because it's "effective and to the point." She's a Democrat. And she paints her toenails pink.

Excuse the digression. Perhaps the most compelling subplot to Jenny Lynn's victory was that it overshadowed the transition to Figure of Susie Curry, who was the defending Fitness I champ and winner of four consecutive Fitness Olympia titles (2000-03) before she retired from that sport this past winter. Her professional win streak ended here, although third place still guarantees her a slot in October's Figure Olympia contest.

There must be something in the water in Columbus because three Ohio locals followed Curry: Jaime Franklin, D.J. Wallis and Mari Kudla-Donnelly.

As for Amber--alas, she had fallen into a tie for 10th place with Christina Forlifer when the final results were announced. Barring a top-three finish in a subsequent contest, she'll need a much-coveted "special invite" to participate in the O. Go figure.

RELATED ARTICLE: FIGURE INTL RESULTS

[MARCH 5, 2004]

VETERANS MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO

    CONTESTANT                           PRIZE
                                         MONEY

 1  Jenny Lynn (at left)                 $10,000
 2  Monica Brant                          $7,000
 3  Susie Curry                           $5,000
 4  Jaime Franklin                        $3,000
 5  D.J. Wallis                           $2,000
 6  Mari Kudla-Donnelly                   $1,000
 7  Dinah Al-Sabah
 8  Elaine Goodlad
 9  Sharon Kouvaras
10  Amber Littlejohn
    Christina Forlifer
12  Monica Guerra
13  Christine Bergeron

PHOTO BY ISABEL SNYDER