Heavyweights (from left): Aukland, Pariso, Oriquen, Viana and Roth.
Oriquen and Raganot pose down.
steps. We’re taking baby steps.) But I’d be willing to bet that having her hair and makeup professionally done— and some coaching on the best ways to present her physique in the relaxed and mandatory poses—would do a lot more for her placings than adding muscle. Ms. International veteran Fannie Barrios tried to be smaller and smoother, but maybe just a bit smoother would have done it. That goes for Angela Debatin as well, but to a lesser degree. Both women’s physiques lacked their usual balance. Debatin was fifth and Barrios sixth.
Overall Did the judges miss yet another chance to make a statement when
they chose Yaxeni over the more aesthetically gifted Raganot? Maybe they, too, were just caught in the spell of her Yaxenatin’ rhythm. Oriquen picked up $7,000 for the class win plus $10,000 for winning the overall, by far the largest slice of the $50,000 total purse. The top three in each class qualified for the ’05 Ms. Olympia.
Epilogue It’s all well and good to applaud the baby steps, but what happens at the Ms. O, where Brenda and Yaxeni will face defending champs Dayana Cadeau and Iris Kyle, a pair who make them look like the second-placers at the Cal when it comes to hard-and-shredded muscle? How the current Olympia champs—and former Ms. O Lenda Murray—present their interpretations of 20 percent decreased muscle and how the judges react will let us know whether that baby’s ever going to walk. However they phrase it, more than “femininity” is at stake this time. At the Arnold Classic on Saturday night, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California head of state and copromoter, with Jim Lorimer, of the weekend that bears his name, announced to a packed house at the Veterans that drug testing is coming to bodybuilding. We’ll find out shortly exactly what that means, but rest assured, it’ll be one perk the women won’t be missing out on. IM
208 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
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