Georgina McConnell

[detamour]

she said she ws retiring from competition.

[Digital Garden]

Such potential for growth, hate to see that being wasted. But it's her life... I suppose she could always change her mind seeing how young she is. (fingers crossed) No matter what though I wish her all the best in whatever she decides to do.

For me  though, that's a major bummer.

[fredzeppelin]

I think peer pressure got to her.

[jiminy]

Prepping for shows is brutal. A lot of women today lift but don't compete, or only compete a few times and then stop, but don't stop lifting. Even Cory, Rachel and Lenda still lift. Lenda is still big. Hopefully Georgina doesn't stop lifting.

[kevin1]

Heard it was that she went on holiday with her boyfriend who is older and she had enough of people staring as she is quite tall and was much bigger than the guy, even though he works out, she was freakingly huge at a young age.

Who dumbell rows with 60kg??

 I heard she was at the airport catching a flight and because she was so muscular the TSA thought she might be a superhero type mutant so they selected her to be be scanned in the full-body scanner but she was so huge she couldn't fit inside the scanner box. Needless to say she was humiliated and she hasn't touched a weight since.

[pumpfiction]

I must admit that kevin1's bits of sarcasm never fail to make me laugh out (very) loud 

[paul2000]

Yeah someone posted it before

Heard it was that she went on holiday with her boyfriend who is older and she had enough of people staring as she is quite tall and was much bigger than the guy, even though he works out, she was freakingly huge at a young age.

Who dumbell rows with 60kg??

 I heard she was at the airport catching a flight and because she was so muscular the TSA thought she might be a superhero type mutant so they selected her to be be scanned in the full-body scanner but she was so huge she couldn't fit inside the scanner box. Needless to say she was humiliated and she hasn't touched a weight since.

Who told you this?

I'm presuming the middle comment by kein1 was meant as a joke (especially as the TSA is an American government agency and the British equivalent, who frankly wouldn't care); the former story I had come across before - I think someone posted it someone on the forum following one of Georgina's final post in her IG account as a FBB/WPD competitor, just after/during her holiday with her BF.  A real shame if it came to that, as she was just beginning to mature as a woman, gaining both curves and beauty (some of her final photos with muscle were stunning) just as she was starting to gain experience as a bodybuilder and probably paying off in her look.  If she feels happier as she is now, then good for her - it should never be about what pleases us fans - we should at least be grateful for what pleasure she gave us during her short career in the sport.  I hope she comes back, but I doubt it, given she lives in the UK - it might've been a different story if she'd been living in the US, Canada or certain parts of the rest of Europe where female bodybuilders are at least (politely) tolerated by most people.

Yeah someone posted it before on here, but she mentioned it in her facebook account.

[jiminy]

Who dumbell rows with 60kg??

Andrulla Blanchette used to warm up with 60kg. Her wings were like a shield of steel!

[paul2000]

Who dumbell rows with 60kg??

Andrulla Blanchette used to warm up with 60kg. Her wings were like a shield of steel!

Difference is she was 19 at the time, no guy in my gym no matter what the age is, gets past 50 and she did 60 effortlessly

[UK_Fan]

I tried to follow her on IG but was finally blocked although it wasn't clear how come.

You mentioned her final pictures. Got direct links to it or could share it?

She basically got a boyfriend (who wasn't a bodybuilder etc) and wanted a more normal life out of the limelight, so took the IG account private for friends only, after stopping BBing.

[jazztival]

Sooooooooo,...here we are once again where the fans&the muscle industry lose an up-N-coming legend because she gets a dude who doesn't like the attention/muscle look
Heather Tristany,Dallas Malloy,Sophie Duquette,Sarah Dunlap&the list goes on where shedding mass is key to happiness OR something..
WTFH,man??!!
Didn't any of these guys actually see their gfs before they started a romance with them??
Plenty of guys on this forum would kill at chance to date Georgina as she was

[UK_Fan]

Did anybody actually ask her as to why she quit?

I don't think she was particularly 'chatty' generally with fans (especially as the vast majority are significantly older than her, and she may have thought it was a bit 'creepy') - I'm sure a few did, but the only way to do so was to contact her via her IG account, and most owners don't reply to people they don't personally know.

[jazztival]

I think part of it was that she didn't appreciate the sometimes very negative (and quite hurtful) comments of some 'people' (not fans), though it wouldn't surprise me that she didn't like some of the more (graphic) sexual-laden 'locker-room talk' (quite a talking point in political circles of late across The Pond if I recall) of some fans, including some members her as well as on other fan sites.  You may also be right about her realising what the side effects of using PEDs might lead to, however a couple of aspects that isn't covered are that:

a) the UK local BBing federation dropped ALL FBB contests at amateur level, and is now starting to look at (I think) doing the same for WPD due to former FBBs competing and the competitor sizes, like in the US, getting bigger/more muscular.  Georgina earlier on her brief career stated she wanted to be a FBB, but had to eventually settle for WPD when she improved because there wasn't any FBB contests to enter in the UK, and being very young, she didn't have any finance behind her to travel abroad to compete.

b) Her very young age (getting to the top echelons of the UK amateur ranks at 20-21) as a decent quality bodybuilder appeared to (from what I read, including on her IG account before she took it private) take up so much of her spare time that she didn't enjoy her teenage years anywhere near as much as most young people.  As she matured around 20-21 (you can see from the photos she changed from an average-looking very fit girl into a REALLY beautiful woman, and I think with the other factors, she just wanted to enjoy a more 'normal' life, including having relationships (including close friendships outside of their sport), which for a dedicated FBB (or any serious athlete) at a young age with little money and free time is both difficult and possibly demoralising (especially when they see people they know enjoying life at their age whilst they suffer for a sport that gives precious little back and has almost no recognition).

I personally wasn't surprised at her decision - I would have loved for her to continue, to develop into an amazingly big, immensely beautiful FBB who slayed all-comers at the top pro FBB contests, but that is just a fantasy that I knew wouldn't ever come to pass, especially when she blossomed as a woman and the FBB contests in the UK (and elsewhere) began to dry up.  You never know, in a few years time, with a bit a life and £££ under her belt, she may choose to make a comeback - its not as though she'd be too old.  I somehow doubt it though.  I wish her all the best at whatever she does with her life after BBing.

For those of you who think I was missing the point
Should have just asked for clarification
&
I would have almost expressed the same arguement UK Fan wrote out for you
1) we All know support system,i.e;LOVE/Money is needed
2) ALSO not living a normal life is BullShit since we see evidence from other FBBers doing it everyday on FACEBook/Twitter/IG/etc
Plus I gave other examples where the scenario goes down as Bf/Hubby comes along& {insert name} here retires from the sport
Do I have concrete facts,..no BUT my speculation is more grounded than most is NOW My Point

[UK_Fan]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does "chase a brass ring" mean?

I believe it means to try and succeed in something that you face a lot of competition to do so.

Compared to many other countries where FBBing is at least tollerated by the local BB federation, the UK is very backward indeed.  Lots of fit ladies around, just those 'in charge' want them to only compete in bikini or figure shows (even WPD isn't doing so well over here now, which is what Georgina had to 'settle for' due to the lack of national FBB contests), as well as the poor attitude to women competitors by large swathes of the British public and media.

I mean, what's the point in all that (expensive, much more so than in the US where food and [probably] PEDs are far cheaper/easier to get hold of (without taking a large risk in having your proverbial collar felt by the Old Bill) and decent gyms/trainers are more readily available.  Georgina was very young when she started and began to improve, but didn't have a decent career yet to pay for all the training etc and normal costs - I'd bet she was still living with her parents and just using her local gym to save on costs.  All that sacrifice, no money left over for ordinary stuff/enjoying her 20s, and for what?  A trophy for a category she probably didn't really want to be in and little chance of being able to make a move abroad to find a better environment for training to achieve something significant.

I personally wasn't surprised in the least at her decision to stop (or at least put her BBing ambitions on hold for a good while).

[fbbsmmh]

I've got news for you folks. Georgina doesn't have to justify her decision to us. It is her life.