Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
ACUT
e're talkinggams here, sailor. AtToronto's Skyline Hotel, site ofthe 1984 International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) Women's World Professional
Bodybuilding Championship, the eyeballs and flashbulbs are popping atlegs
that leave the Betty Grable ideals of the 1930s far behind. Traipsing around
the lobby, posing for photographers,
18 contestants sport calves that erupt
with muscles like Rubik's cubes under nylons, and then ascend to thighs
plated with thick, tanned flesh bulging like surgically implanted clutch purses.
No illusion created by Gucci spiked heels, these symmetrical
swellings manifest
thousands of hours agonizing under weights at gymnasiums in preparation for tomorrow,
~ay 6, 1984, when hundreds of gaga fans will howl for their favorite to stand at day's end
among the five finalists.
Many ofthe fans have had reservations at the Skyline for a month. They forked out $75
for VIP seating and access to the backstage hospitality suite, and now they skitter about
the lobby and enclosed shopping mall hawk-eyeing every woman with an excessive suntan.
Carrying expensive cameras, autograph books and favorite copies oftheir bible, Muscle
& Fitness magazine, the fans cruise the hallways for their idols. They proffer for signatures
glossy 8x IOs, purchased through various mail-order outlets; friends snap them grinning deliriously beside their heroines. Unmindful of personal space, they squeeze biceps, gawk
blatantly down blouses to inspect pectorals and moan critiques of body parts: "Mama,
those calves are deadly !"
Female aficionados seem less intimidated by the bodybuilders'
huge boyfriends/husands. Yes, some devotees are lesbians, and the flips ide is also true: some male enthusiasts
are Milquetoasts or beergutters who would have an aneurysm if they came face-to-face
wi th a barbell.
They can list career highlights and vital statistics like baseball-card collectors. And they
know the best hangouts to catch the buzz: open restaurants, because the competitors like
to be seen; no-smoking sections near the salad bar for those still furiously dieting, pasta
Pump Priming: Mike Hamill readies Carlafor her 17opponents; she will later beat 12. Muscle czar Ben Weider is "categorically against women
developing muscles, through the use of steroids or other drugs, that develop them way out of proportion of what a normal woman would be."
Junior Mlnt:sAnd
Chronlosonles
Prime Pumping: Winner-to-be Lori Bowen-Rice is backed by Dr. Lynn Pirie, Dinah L. Anderson and (in blue) Finnish bodybuilder Marjo
Selin whose body type and style is most like Carla Temple's. Fans who have paidjor VIP tickets have access to the "pump room," and use it.
'~To
Oilers: Fans have been eyeing every woman in sight with a serious suntan. Now comes the glisten of oil to reflect each nuance of muscular
definition straight at thejudges. Those with husbands or boyfriends are anointed reverentially by them, while those without help each other.
(The current ideal is shapely Rachel
:\IcLish. The IFBB promo material says
explicitly, Muscular development must not
be carried to excess where it resembles the
massive muscularity of the male physique.
a~ O~her Carla
axter says the sleek "Barbie Doll"
look will win tomorrow. When this
information is trundled up the elevator back to our hometown girl's
:oom. Carla Temple unleashes one of her
Cazzling Pepsodent smiles. "Well, lucky
- me then, because I think I'm a Barbie
B
I
A To~a"yWeird
AsslgnnJen~
he culmination of all the sweat
and strain is unveiled in the backstage "pump room" at noon on the
day of the contest. Pastel sweatshirts are carefully pulled off over coiffed
and sprayed hairstyles to reveal rippling
mahogany shoulders; leg-warmers drop
below mightily the wed thigh biceps.
Muscle mags like to refer to these
Toilers: Carla Temple's splits andBetty-Boop gesture in her Free-Posing routine brings howls from the crowd. Erica Mes, Marjo Selin, Tina
Plakinger and Carla Dunlap, above, get unserious. Right: Temple, winner Bowen-Rice and second-place Dunlap show symmetry indeed.
Hleronyrnous Boscll In
A WIII'te Bikini
ru