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History Lenda
Standards
Hall of Fame
History
History 1990s
History 2000
History 2005
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Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It
began in the late 1970s when women began to take part in bodybuilding
competitions.
History
Beginnings
Physique contests for women date back to at least the 1960s, with contests like
the Miss Physique and Miss Americana. However, these early "bodybuilding"
contests were really not much more than bikini contests. The first U.S. Women's
National Physique Championship, promoted by Henry McGhee and held in Canton,
Ohio in 1978, is generally regarded as the first true female bodybuilding
contest - that is, the first contest where the entrants were judged solely on
muscularity (Todd, 1999).
More contests started to appear in 1979. Some of these were the following:
The second U.S. Women's National Physique Championship, won by Kay Baxter, with
Marilyn Schriner second and Cammie Lusko third.
The first IFBB Women's World Body Building Championship, held on June 16, won by
Lisa Lyon, followed by Claudia Wilbourn, Stella Martinez, Stacey Bentley, and
Bette Brown.
The Best In The World contest, held at Warminster, PA on August 18, featuring a
$5,000 prize fund, with $2,500 awarded for first place. Patsy Chapman was the
winner, followed by April Nicotra, Bentley, Brown, and Carla Dunlap. (Levin,
1980)
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