Katherine had come to Taipei for the 2nd Asian Female Body Building Championships, a competition that seems almost packaged in press hoopla about controversial public reaction to well-muscled females. There was no contest at all, however, over the fact that all of the contestants were superb examples of the effects of rigorous body building routines. The thirteen now sought public recognition for arduous achievements in muscle and shape.
Four Japanese bodybuilders, all in their mid 30's, attracted special public attention for their tawny, sleek, energetic look. The women's body building movement in Japan has been in existence now more than ten years; well behind are Singapore, Hongkong, the Philippines, and the Republic of China, all late comers to the field.
A choreo—graphed demonstration from the 2nd Asian Female Body Building Champion ships.
ROC contestant Wang Lin-ta, an aerobic dancing teacher who excels in overall shape and flexibility, has engaged in body-building activity only since last year. She pointed out that even for late starters, the effort has been intense: "With various body building machines—the barrel curl, dumbbells, barbells, horizontal and overhead pulleys, a universal bench press, and a sit-up board—I worked to train every inch of muscle."
At the China Sports Center, the contestants did a walk-on, then flashposed. They were rated for muscular development (40 points), symmetrical beauty (20 points), grace (20 points), and charm (20 points), in lightweight (to 52 kg.) and middleweight (over 52 kg.) categories.
Each competitor then did five compulsory poses-for front double biceps, side-chest, back double biceps, triceps, and abdominals and thighs. The final competition was in free posing.
In building muscles, the abdominal exercises are most difficult. And among the thirteen competitors, only the Australian, Katherine Illinsworth, Singapore's Anna Lee, and the four Japanese women had strongly developed abdominal muscles. Yap Mei-Chun, from Hongkong, and the four Taiwan entries, while physically picturesque, lagged in muscle development.
Office girl Linda Chen—At the gym.
The results were almost totally predictable: Japan dominated, with Junko Ohgaki, Yurie lijima, and Fumie Endo capturing first, second, and fourth places in the light division, and Yuki Sodo taking the middleweight crown; Josephine Chua of Singapore took second.
Paul Chua, a judge for the contest, spelled out a basic criterion for selection. First and foremost, he said, "a judge must bear in mind that in a women's body building competition, he is looking for the ideal feminine physique. And its most important overall aspect is shape-a feminine shape-and muscular development must not be carried to excess, where it resembles the massively developed male physique."
Yeh Jui-feng, president of the ROC Body-Building Association and coach of the Chinese entries, agreed: "Actually, in women's body building, symmetrical feminine beauty is no less important than muscular development." He added that since body- building activities have only been promoted in Taiwan for two to three years, many people here have the incorrect notion that the goal is colossally muscled girls with manly physiques.
The ROC Body-Building Association itself has only existed from last August, and the population of local female body-builders is still very small. Understandably, association president Yeh has high hopes that the recent contest here will stimulate much greater activity.