For the love of the game: Susie Curry bests a spectacular; lineup of athletes to win her third Fitness International crown in Columbus - Fitness Olympia

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, June, 2002 by Jeff O'Connell

ON FEB. 22, IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, Susie Curry won the 2002 Fitness International professional fitness' second most prestigious contest. She had already won the same contest twice, in 1998 and '99, before turning her attention to her sport's crown jewel, the Fitness Olympia. Having prevailed there in 2000 and '01, she reigns as undisputed champion.

It's lonely at the top, but not for lack of camaraderie in a sport accurately described as a sisterhood. Few knew: Unless you were at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus that night, you may be hearing for the first time that Susie edged past Jenny Worth, and that Jenny was followed at a safe distance by Jenny Hendershott, third, and Adela Garcia-Friedmansky, Fourth. (Kelly Ryan, the runner-up at this contest last year, withdrew due to a back ailment. Warsaw wunderkind Aleksandra Kobielak was also a late scratch, victimized by an ankle sprain a week or so out. Neither injury is considered serious.)

As far as women's sports were concerned, the nation's attention centered that day on the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where female athletes skated and skied for Olympic gold, culminating years of continual training, year-round instruction and a mind-set akin to tunnel vision. And those, for the most part, were amateurs. The rest of the airwaves and sports pages were filled with the exploits of tennis players, golfers and assorted other pros--full-time athletes all, some made rich and famous by their gifts.

No one asks Venus Williams what she does to support herself when she's not hitting tennis balls, but such questions were asked here. The 14-woman field at the Fitness International included two ex-school teachers (Hendershott and Stacy Simons, fifth place), a former member of the Slovakian Olympic gymnastics squad (Klaudia Kinska, sixth), a former first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force (exciting newcomer Tanji Johnson, seventh), a clothing designer (Laura Mak, eighth), and a woman who gave birth to a baby girl just eight months prior (Shannon Meteraud, ninth).

dues paid, lessons learned

In a fledgling sport just beginning to find its way, commercially and otherwise, these athletes enter contests like this one simply for the love of the game. In the absence of sponsorship, a privilege often reserved for only the best, most photogenic competitors, many will spend more on prep than they have any real chance of recouping in prize money. Contrast that attitude with any number of today's pampered pro athletes trudging like joyless mercenaries through tours and circuits that have become as corporate, and as boring, as any big business.

Reflecting that love for competing and performing, the women onstage at the Fitness International put on one hell of a show--far more entertaining, truth be known, than much of what was being broadcast by NBC or ESPN that day. Curry and Worth, both former collegiate gymnasts, imbue the sometimes parochial side of that sport with enough energy and razzle-dazzle to light up Broadway. Worth is utterly spectacular, and her performance here was even cleaner than it had been at the Fitness Olympia. Hot on their heels in Ohio were Hendershott, whose routine sets the stage on fire; Garcia-Friedmansky, whose elegant body just keeps getting tighter and better proportioned; and Kinska, who has it all and is poised to blow up big in this sport. The most entertaining routine of the night, however, belonged to Simons, whose slippity-slide dance moves and rubber-band-man flexibility freaked the entire house, and in a good way.

Simons is a poster child for not only what makes the sport so much fun to watch but also the challenges many competitors must surmount. She turned pro at the 1997 NPC Nationals and did show after show in the late '90s, earning little more than some middle placings and a series of nagging injuries for her efforts. Lacking sponsorship, she nearly threw in the towel on more than one occasion. Yet she persevered through sheer determination and a bootstraps attitude, doing without a personal trainer and choreographing her own routines. In preparation for this show, while teaching eighth and ninth graders in New Jersey, her lunch break would consist of 35 minutes on the stationary bike--the second of her three daily cardio sessions.

Onstage, Simons appeared momentarily overwhelmed at having climbed from 15th last year to fifth this year, and the tears streaming down her face as her torso gently heaved reflected dues paid and lessons learned. "I just like performing, and I like being onstage, and I like making people smile," she said when asked how she has managed to stay the course.

support system

Along with their love of competing and performing, the current crop of fitness pros draws encouragement and inspiration from one another--a far cry from racket-throwing tennis players and figure skaters who try to take their opponents out at the knees. "All the girls--we get along so well," said Garcia-Friedmansky. "We are happy for each other Last year I got third and Jenny [Hendershott] got fourth [at this contest], and this year she was so happy [to get third]. I said, 'Girl, you deserve that.' We turned pro at the same time, and it's been great to see her doing so well, too."