IFBB World Classic 2011: Eesti mäekõrgune võit kinnitatud!

2011 WORLD MEN’S CLASSIC BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

by Andrew Michalak

This weekend all eyes of the bodybuilding world will be on Tallinn, Estonia, where the 2011 World Classic Bodybuilding Championships and IFBB World Cup will be held. The upcoming Championships will be a record breaker, with 79 athletes nominated by National Federations in classic bodybuilding, 29 to the IFBB World Cup and 13 to demonstrate a new sport concept: athletic fitness.

Altogether, over 120 competitors from 34 countries will take part, with the biggest teams from Estonia, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Norway.

The Championships will take place in the very modern Nokia Concert Hall theatre, constructed in 2008, with auditorium for 1830 viewers and high-quality, up-to-date sound and light systems. You may see it on the virtual tour at: http://www.tallinnco…uaal/index.html

It will be a perfect place for displaying of the body beauty of the top physique sports athletes of the world!

– Semifinals will start November 19 (Saturday) at 10:00 (morning session) and 15:00 (afternoon session);

– Finals: November 20 (Sunday) at 15:00.

Looking at the list of nominated athletes, we can have an impression that classic bodybuilding has been expanding to the entire world nowadays. Beside Europe, there are athletes from Australia, Canada, Gambia, South Africa, Korea, Japan, Iran, Jordan, Morocco – five continents. Only South America will not be present this time but classic bodybuilding has also been growing there, having 20 athletes from 7 countries at their recent continental championships in Caracas, Venezuela and they were widely present at the 2011 Arnold America, with Jesus Britos (Paraguay) as the 171 cm category winner. There are so many top IFBB events in Asia and Europe this autumn that it is a hard financial challenge to the National Federations from America to participate in all of them. They will have their great festivity next year when the 2012 Men’s Worlds will be hosted by the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil.

And now the actors of the 2011 Classic Bodybuilding Worlds and IFBB World Cup: the athletes:

2011 IFBB WORLD MEN’S CLASSIC BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 168 cm:

8 athletes, with the current European champion Tomas Lukac (Czech Republic) and last-year World’s finalist Robert Horvath (Croatia). 2010 world champion Mahmut Irmak (Turkey) already moved to the traditional bodybuilding.

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 171 cm:

17 athletes and three great names: 2010 world champion Yeon-Seok Yang and runner-up Yong-In Ha (both of Korea) and 2011 European champion and Arnold Europe winner Konstantin Paskalev (Bulgaria). Moreover, East European champion Denis Bashkatov (Russia) and Int. Cup of Poland winner Damian Witkowski (Poland).

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 175 cm:

19 athletes, with 2011 Arnold America and Amateur Olympia winner Mariusz Balazinski and 2011 European champion Przemyslaw Zokowski (both of Poland), Amateur Olympia 3^rd place winner Fernando Gornals (Spain), Korean veteran and 1997 Asian champion in traditional bodybuilding Myung-Sub Kim, who will debut in classic bodybuilding at this event and Estonian fans great hope for the title, 2010 Worlds bronze medal winner Imre Vahi.

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 180 cm:

15 athletes, with 2009 European champion and Amateur Olympia winner Murat Demir and 2010 Worlds bronze medal winner Thomas Schnelldorfer (both of Germany), 2011 Eastern Europe Cup winner Alexander Kamenskiy (Russia) and… Mohsen Ghorannevis of Iran, who showed incredible body conditions two years ago but then was suspended for two years. Now returns!

Men’s classic bodybuilding over 180 cm:

As usual, the longest line-up, with 20 athletes. Some biggest names: 2010 world champion and 2011 Arnold America overall winner Jerzy Pisulski (Poland), 2008 world champion Roman Plachinta (Russia) and 2009 European champion Taavi Koovit – the next hope of the hosting country.

2011 IFBB WORLD CUP

Women’s fitness:

This time great show, with the world champion Tatiana Dvortsova (Russia), former world junior champion Oksana Orobets (Ukraine) and Europeans runner-up Olga Volokh (Russia).

Men’s fitness:

World champion Oleg Anissimov (Estonia), new Ukrainian star, “Fitness Bomb” show winner Fedor Khashalov and rising stars from Jordan and Turkey.

Women’s bodyfitness up to 163 cm:

2010 world champion Olga Muntian (Ukraine), European and Arnold Europe runner-up Magdalena Krajkowska (Poland) and European bronze medal winner Elena Pitsishina (Russia).

Women’s bodyfitness over 163 cm:

2011 Arnold America and Amateur Olympia winner Tetyana Mikheychyk (Ukraine) plus 5 rising stars form Latvia, Estonia, Turkey and Russia.

Men’s bodybuilding:

Europeans runner-up Ott Kiivikas and well-know Nordic bodybuilders: Tapani Valkonen (Finland) and Soran Rashid (Norway).