Muscle in the Eighties: the 1st Miss Olympia

[OdoHerr]

When he organized his first "Miss Olympia", in 1980, with about twenty competitors, George SNYDER was just intending to promote the very existence of Women, their muscular potential, and their competitiveness in this sport. Never could he have imagined, I guess, the "muscularity level" the women are displaying today. Even Ben Weider, who followed him at the head of this organization, probably dit not imagine this escalation.

[OdoHerr]

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[orinoko44]

here are some more photos from and about this competition with some comments.

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[Timmon]

Great post, everyone, K to everyone. This really is where it all began. This thread captures it all, if this bit of history had not happened, there would be no Saradas, No Pumping Iron 2 the movie, no WPW, nothing! Or at the very least, nothing for many more years. Well done George.
Nice pics, and still, to me, 30 years on, those athletes look as good as ever. They really did set the scene, and "give permission" for other ladies to build muscle. Bless them all.

[Female Bodybuilding]

In 1980 the first Ms. Olympia (initially known as the "Miss" Olympia) was held with Rachel McLish winning and becoming the first Ms. Olympia. Rachel was dethroned by Ritva Elomaa in 1981, but regained the title in 1982.

George Snyder lost the rights to the Ms. Olympia in 1982, and after this the contestants were no longer hand-picked, but instead qualified for the Ms. Olympia through placings in lesser contests. As female bodybuilding grew and progressed, the competitors' level of training gradually increased, with most of the competitors in the earliest shows having very little weight training experience, and the sport slowly evolving towards more muscular physiques. This trend started to emerge in 1983 when with McLish not competing in the big shows, Carla Dunlap won the 1983 Ms. Olympia. Dunlap possessed a much more muscular physique than previous Ms. Olympia winners McLish or Elomaa.

In 1984 Corinna Everson won the Ms. Olympia title in Montreal Canada, the first competition to be held outside the United States. Everson would go on to win six consecutive Ms. Olympia titles in a row before retiring in 1989 undefeated as a professional, the only woman ever to accomplish this.