2006 Olympia Review by Kaisa Piippo and Juan Carlos Lopez

Jenny Lynn

The hot desert wind welcomed Hard Fitness’ press team to the Olympia city, Las Vegas, on Wednesday the 27th of September. It would be time for another Olympia, the biggest bodybuilding and fitness competition of the year. Who would take the crowns of fitness, figure and bodybuilding queens this year? Figure’s Olympia’s all-time champion, Davana Medina was out of competition this year due to a medical condition and this brought an interesting turn into the expectations. Would it finally be the time for fitness icon Monica Brant to sweep the figure stage or maybe the crown would be worn by this year’s Figure International winner, Mary Lado? Fitness and women’s bodybuilding were to bring versatile lineups as well since there were some new pros and also many veteran competitors amongst them.
The prejudging took place at Las Vegas Convention Center on Friday noon just like last year. The expo was bigger than ever and the stage was located at the back of the expo. First it was time for the fitness athletes to present their physiques in two piece suits. The most conditioned competitors on the stage seemed to be Kim Klein and Tracey Greenwood, and the judges’ favourites in addition to the two mentioned were also Fitness International 2006 champion Adela Friedmansky and last year’s Fitness Olympia champion Jen Hendershott. Canadian pro fitness star, Mindi O’Brien, also presented a very pleasing and lean physique.

Monica Brant

When figure girls grazed to the stage in their one piece suits, the competitors who really stood up were definitely Monica Brant, Jenny Lynn and a couple of newer faces in the competition scene, like the youngest figure girl, 22 year old Gina Aliotti. Monica looked superior in her amazingly beautiful suit that glimmered like liquid diamonds. Lynn’s condition was right on, she presented a smaller but still a very pleasing figure on the stage. As the callouts were announced, it seemed like the top competitors this year would be Lynn, Brant, Lado, Littlejohn and Pomponio-Pate.
The second round in fitness (the one piece round) didn’t bring much changes into the callouts, except the ever energetic-looking Tanji Johnson who might even place in the top five this year. Her full and round muscled body made a fitting addition to the girls in the first callouts. Figure’s second round, two piece brought more changes into the callouts than in fitness. The first callout was between only four competitors: Brant, Lynn, Littlejohn and Pomponio-Pate. Lado got called out in the second group. In the end of the round there was a special callout with the four top girls, who were the same as in the first callout. It seemed like this year the title would be a battle between Lynn and Brant. 

Iris Kyle

Now that the Female Bodybuilders came out one by one in a different format it was up to Yaxeni to defend her title. Amongst the few competitors it was a true question of balance and conditioning. After all the competitors were on stage and had done their mandatories one thing was clear: Iris Kyle would win no matter what. Iris Kyle came back better than last year, better conditioned and with a yet smaller waist. Her conditioning was so sharp it made others like Yaxeni Oriquen look smooth and even some of the men on stage that night would look watery compared to her. Bonny Priest was the second most conditioned bringing a solid package that only lacked size and a bit more of a v-taper. Dayana Cadeau wasn't as sharp but brought in a small waist and excellent conditioning. Annie Rivieccio improved the most bringing a very good overall package which proved something judges liked. Lisa Aukland who had taken the Atlantic City show without a doubt was on but still not quite good for the judges, holding perhaps a small film of water in her skin. For the rest of the competitors Jitka Harazimova had been sick the past few days from food poisoning so it was lucky she even got on stage. Helen Bouchard was big and powerful and perhaps judges thought it was too much as Gayle Moher right behind her looked totally the opposite even smaller than previous competitions. Dena Westerfield did her first Olympia after her first pro show. She has risen to the Pro ranks in a year and soared high into the Mount Olympia where all the other goddesses compete.

Adela Garcia

Fitness’ 45-second routines took place after the female bodybuilders got off the stage. Jen Hendershott’s routine was full of energy and was definitely a top performance. Also Mindi O’Brien’s and Regiane Da Silva’s routines were strong with amazing athletic abilities and very clean movements. The mandatory routine round left high expectations for the Saturday night’s finals.
The Fitness and Ms Olympia finals started at 7pm on Friday night with . The physique rounds were over in just a blink of an eye and it was almost obvious that Jenny Lynn and Adela Friedmansky would take their classes. All of the competitors looked amazingly beautiful and there was no one, who wouldn’t have belonged on the Olympia stage that night. Fitness routines were the highlight of the show. Adela’s Batman theme was fun and very Adela-like with solid movements and no sign of a competitor, who wasn’t born for this! Jenny H came out in a cat costume with a huge cat head on her shoulders. The catty performance with lots of entertaining twists in additude and style definitely made the audience shout and purr with excitement.

Kim Klein

Tracey Greenwood performed an excellent routine with graze and powerful moves just like a veteran fitness athlete would do – even with a thumb injury that requires surgery right after the competition! Kim Klein and Tanji Johnson also deserve praise for their performances. Even though Klein’s tiny motorcycle took her off stage a little too quickly, her routine was one of the top routines that night with excellent execution in movements. She’s definitely the one competitor that will eventually get the gold medal in this competition. Talking about Tanji, her hard work seems to be paying off as well. Her “army brat” routine was high in energy and made the crowd go wild.
Finally it was time for the new Fitness Olympia and Ms Olympia champions to get their crowns. Adela Garcia took home the Fitness Olympia title, Kim Klein got second, last year’s winner Jenny Hendershott placed third and took it with grace as a true pro would do. Fourth place went to Tanji Johnson who we will definitely see climbing up the placements during the next years. Fifth was Tracey Greenwood and sixth Julie Palmer. 

Bonnie Priest

Countdown for the evening was merely a mirage for those who had stayed for the long show. Finally we saw Iris Kyle take back the Ms. O crown and perhaps dominate for a few years. Second was Dayana Cadeau who has her beat next to Iris. Third was Annie Rivieccio whose strong physique and symmetry garnered that top spot without hesitation. Bonnie Priest came in 4th with her top conditioning and 5th place was bestowed unto Lisa Aukland. It will be very hard to challenge Iris Kyle next year, Yaxeni's win might have been a simple statement as this year she looked very similar to 2005 but now placed very low. There might be one or two competitors who could battle with Iris, some believe it could be Jitka Harazimova...

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