Flex 'n' femme

Flex, August, 2003 by Steve Wennerstrom

TAKING THE FIFTH

During a competitive amateur career that began in 1997, Californian Debbie Bramwell has accumulated an impressive string of victories that includes overall wins at the 1997 San Diego Gold's Gym Classic and the 2001 NPC Border States. In 2002, Bramwell, a hairstylist from San Diego, competed at the national level and earned a fifth-place finish in the middleweight class at the NPC USA in Las Vegas.

"Entering the USA was such a thrill for me," says Bramwell. "It motivated me to enter again this year." When asked if she could win her class at the July 25-26 event, Bramwell replied, "I'll take the fifth on that question, but I'd love the first!"

SLOVENIA'S BEST

One of Europe's smallest countries, with just two million inhabitants, Slovenia has managed to produce a world-class bodybuilder, Eva Pogacnik. From Ljubljana, 30-year-old Pogacnik grew into bodybuilding from a childhood filled with extensive jujitsu training, judo, cycling and snow skiing.

Pogacnik speaks five languages, including her mother tongue, has studied kinesiology and has been an accredited personal trainer since 1999. As an active competitor since 1995, she earned the '95 Slovenian national title. For more information and photos of Pogacnik, click on her Web site at www.bodybyeva.com.

SNAZZY MULINAZZI

Lindsay Mulinazzi possesses an overall look that should comfortably fit in the worlds of both fitness and bodybuilding. However, 5'3" 130-pound Mulinazzi clearly has been deemed too muscular to contend as a fitness competitor. At the NPC USA Fitness Championships, she placed 13th (1997), 15th (1998) and 11th (1999). A change was in order.

Competing as a bodybuilder at the 2002 NPC Georgia Coastal Championships, Mulinazzi took the overall title. "I've always felt comfortable with the level of muscle I have," says Mulinazzi. "So, I guess I'll go back to bodybuilding and. see what happens. I'll go to the USA again this year--as a bodybuilder--and then to the Team Universe later in the year."

The move from one-arm pushups to double-biceps poses may be the best one she could make. Peruse Mulinazzi's Web site at www.fitnessinferno.com for everything from photos to diet and training information.

UNNOTICED AT NATIONALS

When Sheron Kestler placed 10th in the lightweight class at the 2002 NPC Nationals in Dallas, Texas, she felt as if she might have been lost in the shuffle. Truth be told, this small-town girl from Allen, Texas, easily qualified as a "babe in the woods" when it came to national-level contests.

A novice lightweight win at the 2000 NPC Southwest USA, followed by a victory at the NPC Southwest Naturals the same year, coupled with a handful of second- and third-place finishes at other local Texas events meant she was still an "innocent." The 2002 NPC National changed all that. "I got my eyes opened, that's for sure," recalls Kestler. "The Nationals lightweight class was just awesome. But I'd like to be notice when I enter this year. So I'm not planning on any more 10th-place finishes. I'm sure I'll be better than that next time."

FIGURE FIRSTS

When a sport is born, a series of firsts quickly follows. In women's bodybuilding, Rachel McLish was the first Ms. Olympia in 1980. The first Fitness Olympia champion was Mia Finnegan in 1995. And now, with the birth of IFBB pro figure competitions, the first Figure Olympia winner will be crowned on October 24, 2003, in Las Vegas.

Several other firsts have already been achieved this year. On February 28, the first-ever IFBB pro figure contest, the Figure International, took place as part of the Arnold Fitness Weekend. The inagural field included 13 contestants. The first one to walk onstage was Elaine Goodlad of Canada. The first callout in the first round of judging included Monica Brant, Jenny Lynn and Davana Medina. And the first IFBB pro figure champion was Jenny Lynn. Will Lynn also become the first Figure Olympia champion? FLEX will be the first to tell you.

JEWEL OF THE PACIFIC

Guam's I.ori Hayden has become the bodybuilding jewel of the Pacific. From the island that also produced Mishay Santos, Hayden has become a world-class lightweight competitor. She got her start as the lightweight runner-up at the 1999 Guam Nationals, then grabbed the overall victory at the 2000 IFBB South Pacific Championships. A year later, she placed 15th at her first international event, as a lightweight at the IFBB World Amateur Championships in Rio de Janeiro. In 2002, she leapfrogged to the eighth-place spot at the same event in the Czech Republic.

"I'm gaining confidence," says Hayden, "but it takes time. When you see how awesome the women are at the Worlds, it can be intimidating. I think I can make the top five this year, and that is my goal."