by Brad McFarlin and Matthew Balk
Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey for years have proclaimed themselves as the
"Greatest Show on Earth".
The 2007 Arnold Sports Festival, held March 2-4 should be given consideration
as the new "Greatest Show on Earth".
Featuring "fitness and fun for the entire family," The Arnold hosted 39 events
such as martial arts, grappling, bench press challenges, fencing, table tennis,
arm wrestling, and strong man challenges just to name a few. 17,000 athletes
competed, and crowd estimates were as high as 132,000.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer hosted the festival (which was
spread out among three avenues to handle the staggering number of participants.)
Considering the numbers, everything went off very professionally, and really
had something for everyone. If there was one complaint it would be that there
were simply not enough hours in the day.
The main events, as usual, were the 19th Annual Arnold Classic Events; Ms
International, Fitness International, and Figure International competitions,
which are among the top bodybuilding contests in the world.
2007 Womens winners were Iris Kyle from Fullerton, California , who won the
title of Ms International and took home a check for $25,000. Second place went
to Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia of Miami Beach who won $12,500.
Kimberly Klein from Belmar, New Jersey, won the Fitness International and took
home a check for $25,000. Runner up was Jennifer Hendershot of Worthington,
Ohio, who received a check for $12,500.
Mary Elizabeth Lado of Metairie, Louisiana won the Figure International
Championship. Mary was presented a check for $12,000. Second place went to
Amanda Savel of Allen, Texas who received $8,000.00
The womens champions also received a trophy from Brian Cavanaugh of GNC, as
well as a Tony Nowak Jacket from Governor Schwarzenegger.