The History of the Ms. Olympia Contest

Female bodybuilding continues to challenge preconceived notions of beauty.

 

Barbend: There’s a lot to be excited about for this year’s Mr. Olympia. The “Superbowl of bodybuilding,” which takes place on Dec. 18-19, 2020, will see the return of seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath who is donning posing trunks for the first time since his 2016 dethroning. Also, Flex Lewis — the former reigning seven-time 212 Olympia winner and a general crowd favorite — is making his Open division debut in an attempt to out-muscle returning champ Brandon Curry.

Unfortunately, all of this excitement has somewhat hidden the genuinely historic part of the 2020 contest: the return of Ms. Olympia. Women’s bodybuilding has, since its true
inception in the late 1970s, played second fiddle to the men’s division. The history of the Ms. Olympia division is a testament to this fact.

In 2014, the IFBB Professional Leauge disbanded the Ms. Olympia competition with little indication that it would ever come back. Amidst claims that fans no longer cared, the premier women’s bodybuilding contest was canceled. How and why the Ms. Olympia was dropped speaks to the barriers facing the sport. Specifically, what is and isn’t an acceptable female body. Such a question has plagued female bodybuilders long before the Ms. Olympia.

Read more at https://barbend.com/history-ms-olympia-contest/