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by Andrew Michalak uropean Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation Executives met in Seville, Spain, on January 24 till 26, 2014, to discuss the current matters, made necessary decisions and formulate propositions to be submitted to the IFBB International Congress in November. Founded approximately 2200 years ago as the Roman city of Hispalis, Seville was then taken […]
by Andrew Michalak
E
uropean Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation Executives met in Seville, Spain, on January 24 till 26, 2014, to discuss the current matters, made necessary decisions and formulate propositions to be submitted to the IFBB International Congress in November. Founded approximately 2200 years ago as the Roman city of Hispalis, Seville was then taken by the Muslims from North Africa in 712. Recaptured by the Christian King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon in 1248, at the beginning of the 16th century entered its “Golden Age” having the royal monopoly for trade with the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Before the Spanish Civil War was selected as a host city for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and at the end of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century for the Universal Exposition „The Age of Discovery”Expo’92. The city is the capital of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. Visiting the city with so rich history, we had the rare opportunity to see many top interesting places tied with European and Moorish cultures. Our Spanish hosts carefully planned the schedule, arranging sightseeing tours and transport. Dr. Rafael Santonja is a pharmacist and nutritionist by profession but his private passion is history, so he could talk about visited places in a very attractive way, providing a lot of interesting details. Thank you!.
Regarding the Meeting sessions, they were run on Friday afternoon and whole Saturday, and some subjects were so hot that we could talk till midnight or even longer, so further studies are necessary to prepare more precise variants of possible solutions. The Meeting was started with the comprehensive President’s Report presented on a big screen and some matters were discussed immediately after being mentioned in the Report.
2014 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The main topic was the organization of the 2014 European Championships. Usually, three or two separate continental championships were staged in different places but this year, first time in the EBFF history, all three continental championships will be held as a one continuous event.* “The World Capital of Fitness” Santa Susanna was approved as the host city. Spanish Federation’svery experienced team of organizers, with its President Jose Ramos, supported by the city authorities, with Mayor Joan Campolier, and traditional Spanish hospitality guarantee that these combined Championships will be prepared and run professionally, according to the highest IFBB standards.Anyway, this new situation created new problems, which should be studied and* solved in a different way than previously.
First, the registration. More than 600 athletes are expected, so EBB decided to run the registration in a similar manner as at the Arnold Classic: the whole arrival day (Wednesday) will be devoted to registration and it will be done country by country, according to their arrival time, not category by category as it was practiced in the past and required all national teams to be in the hotel. Overweight competitors will have 60 minutes to drop their bodyweight below the upper limit for their categories. To speed up the registration, EBFF urges all National Federations to do all necessary payments in advance, via Pay-Pal system. All those, who don’t pay in advance, will have to pay EUR 20 more per person.
Then the order of competition and other details:
- Categories with weight/height limits or bodyweight categories will be run first, on Thursday and Friday.
- Women’s categories and men’s / juniors fitness will be run later, on Saturday and Sunday.
- EBFF Electoral Congress will be held Saturday morning.
- The best teams classification will be done for three Championships separately: European Bodybuilding Championships, European Fitness Championships and European Juniors & Masters Championships.
- Competitors will receive places from 1[SUP]st[/SUP] to 15[SUP]th[/SUP] in all categories (with full semifinals). The concept of scoring athletes in the finals only (top six) tested at the 2013 Arnold Europe will not be applied in the future official events.
- Competitors may participate in more than one age divisions, i.e. juniors and masters can start in women’s and men’s divisions; however they will be obliged to pay additional EUR 100 participation fee per category.
- Athletes will not take part in the Parade of Nations. Due to the problems with warming-up and not enough place on stage (40 countries expected), only one official per country and a volunteer with the flag will participate in the Parade of Nations.
- In 2014 one new category will be run at the European Fitness Championships: Masters Women Bikini Fitness age over 35 as one open class. Depending on the popularity of this category, it will be expanded at the continental level or even advanced to the World Fitness Championships.
- There will be 2 Junior Women’s Bikini Fitness categories: u to 163 cm and over 163 cm
More details will be provided in the Inspection Report to be published soon.
WORLD CLASSIC BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS AND WORLD CUP
These Championships will take place in Alcala de Henares, near Madrid, so EBFF will be the host continental federation. Classic Bodybuilding will be run as previously, with 5 categories plus overall. But some questions were raised regarding the IFBB World Cup, which traditionally was held in conjunction with these Championships. Finally, it was decided that two additional events will be run:* Men’s Physique World Cup (included all 4 categories) and Bikini Fitness Ms. International (included all 6 categories). The April’s World Ladies Cup in Kiev, Ukraine, will include all women’s fitness sports, so there will be no second World Fitness Cup in autumn.
WORLD AND EUROPEAN CHILDREN FITNESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Up till now, EBFF and Eastern European countries are the driving force in children fitness but the idea has gradually been spreading into other continents, what was seen at the very successful recent Children Fitness Congress in Mexico City, with participation of 15 Latin American countries. The 5[SUP]th[/SUP] World Children Fitness Championships will be held in mid June in Novi Sad, Serbia, once again, and the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] European Children Fitness Championships late in October in Budapest, Hungary. This idea has proved to be very valuable and needed, especially as IFBB has promoted Fitness, together with Classic Bodybuilding, as a future Olympic sports. EBFF urges all National Federations from Europe (and the world as well) to do their best to develop children fitness and to cooperate with national acrobatic, gymnastic, dancingand other sport organizations to select children with predisposition to fitness (proper body structure and flexibility).
WORLD LADIES CUP
This new IFBB event was inaugurated last year in Kiev. Based on its good attendance and publicity, the organizers decided to continue this concept and make it an annual event. EBFF approved it with pleasure, so there will be the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] edition of this contest in mid April. The event has been moved to the ACCO International Exhibition Center – the same where the 2013 World Fitness Championships took place, and will include Expo fairs. The event includes Women Fitness (2 categories), Women Bodyfitness (3 categories) and Women Bikini Fitness (4 categories) at least. Money awards will be distributed among all finalists in each category. Inspection Report will be published soon.
ARNOLD AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
For this year three Arnold Amateur Championships, commonly called Arnold Classic (however Arnold Classic is the name of the pro event) are planned:
- Arnold Amateur North America – Columbus, Ohio, USA (open for all countries)
- Arnold Amateur South America – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (open for Latin America and North America)
- Arnold Amateur Europe – Madrid, Spain (open for all countries)
Arnold Weekend in Australia is progressing for 2015.
AMATEUR OLYMPIAS
The idea of Amateur Olympia is also expanding. Following the popularity and publicity* of two Amateur Mr. Olympias in the Gulf states and two Amateur Bikini Olympias in the Czech Republic, the concept has been evolved in the direction of multi-sport Amateur Olympias. This year we can expect the following events:
- Amateur Olympia Latin America in Acapulco, Mexico
- Amateur Olympia Europe in Prague, Czech Republic
- World Amateur Olympia in Moscow, Russia (open to all countries)
- Amateur Olympia Asia in Korea
Amateur Olympia in Prague will be the first (beginning of June) and will include Men Bodybuilding, Men Physique, Women Fitness, Women Physique and Bikini Fitness. The scope of other Amateur Olympias will be fixed soon.
THE 2[SUP]ND[/SUP] BEN WEIDER DIAMOND CUP
Following its successful inauguration in Athens, Greece, the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Ben Weider Cup will be held this year. The date and place is still an open matter. National Federations may send their bids to the IFBB Headquarter in Madrid.
MOZOLANI CLASSIC
This is a new event in the EBFF Calendar. Its amateur part will include: International Bodybuilding and Classic Bodybuilding Championships of Slovakia as well as Bikini Fitness and Master Men Bodybuilding Cup. This event will be devoted to celebrate the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the Slovak Federation (was established in 1964 as the Czechoslovak Bodybuilding Federation). Prize money for amateurs will be
USD 6*000 in total.
INTERESTING DISCUSSIONS AND PROPOSALS
- EBFF Technical Committee Chairperson Wanda Tierney (UK) proposed to include as well Men’s Fitness in the program of the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. This proposal received unanimous support and Azerbaijan Federation President Rauf Bunyataliyev was asked to search if it would be possible.
- EBFF Vice-President and Russian Federation President Vladimir Dubinin proposed to change the names of new categories: Men’s Physique and Women’s Physique, which are even difficult to translate in many languages in a style proper for sport disciplines, to: Men’s and Women’s Beach Fitness. While in case of Men’s Physique it was considered as a very interesting idea (taking into account the apparel and overall style of presentation), in case of Women’s Physique it is not so clear. But, in general, the concept seems to be very interesting as it is “in line” with the current trends in other sports, creating theirs “beach” versions, and as bodybuilding and fitness will be included in more and more Beach Games of the Olympic Program.
- World Bodybuilding Championships and World ClassicBodybuilding Championships in one combined event. As we remember, the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] IFBB World Classic Bodybuilding Championships were held in conjunction with the World Bodybuilding Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in 2006. Nowadays, there are as many as 5 separate IFBB World Championships: Bodybuilding, Classic Bodybuilding, Fitness, Junior & Masters and Children Fitness. It seems that some of them could be combined to create bigger events, avoid extra costs of travels around the world and avoid problems with finding so many organizers each year. First of all, World Bodybuilding and World Classic Bodybuilding Championships could be combined, giving not more than 15 categories in total. To compare: World Fitness Championships include 19 categories (after removal of Women’s Bodybuilding and Women’s and Men’s Athletic Fitness but including 6 Bikini Fitness classes and 4 Men’s Physique classes), World Juniors & Masters Championships include 23 categories (after removal of Junior and Masters Women’s Bodybuilding as well as Wheelchair Bodybuilding but including 2 Junior Women’s Bikini Fitness classes).
Combined Bodybuilding and Classic Bodybuilding Championships plus annual IFBB International Congress will be the most prestigious sport event, with the biggest attendance of National Federations (some of them take part in the Classic Bodybuilding Championships only). *This proposal will be submitted to the IFBB Congress.
- Medals and trophies. IFBB and its Continental Federations need hundreds of medals and trophies (cups, statuettes) for their annual championships. President Santonja informed that the IFBB HQ signedcontract with the prestigious company from Hong Kong, Dreams Concept, who will provide all this awards for all the World Championships.
- EBFF Judges Committee Chairman and German Federation President Erich Janner proposed to establish weight/height limits in Women’s Physique. After discussion, it was decided that it is too early to do this and more experience and analysis are needed. This proposal will be evaluated in the future once again.
- Athletes Representative and Austrian Federation President Dr. Wolfgang Schober delivered 2 proposals. First was to establish two Junior Women’s Bikini Fitness categories: up to 163 cm and over 163 cm. Taking into account that the number of competitors in this category raised to 18 at the 2013 European Juniors Championships and to 24 at the 2012 World Juniors Championships, this proposal was approved and will be in force from the 2014 European Championships in Santa Susanna.
The second Mr. Schober’s proposal was to replace Fitness categories by Rhythmic Fitness categories and to reduce the allowed moves in fitness routines to aerobics, dance and similar kind of presentation, removing acrobatic, strength and flexibility moves. This proposal was not approved but further studies will be made if any changes in the current fitness rules are required to minimize the risk of injury.
- EBFF General Secretary and United Kingdom Federation President William Tierney proposed to establish a point system to earn the Pro Card. After discussion, this proposal was directed for further study.
More...
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by Andrew Michalak uropean Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation Executives met in Seville, Spain, on January 24 till 26, 2014, to discuss the current matters, made necessary decisions and formulate propositions to be submitted to the IFBB International Congress in November. Founded approximately 2200 years ago as the Roman city of Hispalis, Seville was then taken […]
by Andrew Michalak
E
uropean Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation Executives met in Seville, Spain, on January 24 till 26, 2014, to discuss the current matters, made necessary decisions and formulate propositions to be submitted to the IFBB International Congress in November. Founded approximately 2200 years ago as the Roman city of Hispalis, Seville was then taken by the Muslims from North Africa in 712. Recaptured by the Christian King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon in 1248, at the beginning of the 16th century entered its “Golden Age” having the royal monopoly for trade with the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Before the Spanish Civil War was selected as a host city for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and at the end of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century for the Universal Exposition „The Age of Discovery”Expo’92. The city is the capital of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. Visiting the city with so rich history, we had the rare opportunity to see many top interesting places tied with European and Moorish cultures. Our Spanish hosts carefully planned the schedule, arranging sightseeing tours and transport. Dr. Rafael Santonja is a pharmacist and nutritionist by profession but his private passion is history, so he could talk about visited places in a very attractive way, providing a lot of interesting details. Thank you!.
Regarding the Meeting sessions, they were run on Friday afternoon and whole Saturday, and some subjects were so hot that we could talk till midnight or even longer, so further studies are necessary to prepare more precise variants of possible solutions. The Meeting was started with the comprehensive President’s Report presented on a big screen and some matters were discussed immediately after being mentioned in the Report.
2014 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The main topic was the organization of the 2014 European Championships. Usually, three or two separate continental championships were staged in different places but this year, first time in the EBFF history, all three continental championships will be held as a one continuous event.* “The World Capital of Fitness” Santa Susanna was approved as the host city. Spanish Federation’svery experienced team of organizers, with its President Jose Ramos, supported by the city authorities, with Mayor Joan Campolier, and traditional Spanish hospitality guarantee that these combined Championships will be prepared and run professionally, according to the highest IFBB standards.Anyway, this new situation created new problems, which should be studied and* solved in a different way than previously.
First, the registration. More than 600 athletes are expected, so EBB decided to run the registration in a similar manner as at the Arnold Classic: the whole arrival day (Wednesday) will be devoted to registration and it will be done country by country, according to their arrival time, not category by category as it was practiced in the past and required all national teams to be in the hotel. Overweight competitors will have 60 minutes to drop their bodyweight below the upper limit for their categories. To speed up the registration, EBFF urges all National Federations to do all necessary payments in advance, via Pay-Pal system. All those, who don’t pay in advance, will have to pay EUR 20 more per person.
Then the order of competition and other details:
- Categories with weight/height limits or bodyweight categories will be run first, on Thursday and Friday.
- Women’s categories and men’s / juniors fitness will be run later, on Saturday and Sunday.
- EBFF Electoral Congress will be held Saturday morning.
- The best teams classification will be done for three Championships separately: European Bodybuilding Championships, European Fitness Championships and European Juniors & Masters Championships.
- Competitors will receive places from 1[SUP]st[/SUP] to 15[SUP]th[/SUP] in all categories (with full semifinals). The concept of scoring athletes in the finals only (top six) tested at the 2013 Arnold Europe will not be applied in the future official events.
- Competitors may participate in more than one age divisions, i.e. juniors and masters can start in women’s and men’s divisions; however they will be obliged to pay additional EUR 100 participation fee per category.
- Athletes will not take part in the Parade of Nations. Due to the problems with warming-up and not enough place on stage (40 countries expected), only one official per country and a volunteer with the flag will participate in the Parade of Nations.
- In 2014 one new category will be run at the European Fitness Championships: Masters Women Bikini Fitness age over 35 as one open class. Depending on the popularity of this category, it will be expanded at the continental level or even advanced to the World Fitness Championships.
- There will be 2 Junior Women’s Bikini Fitness categories: u to 163 cm and over 163 cm
More details will be provided in the Inspection Report to be published soon.
WORLD CLASSIC BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS AND WORLD CUP
These Championships will take place in Alcala de Henares, near Madrid, so EBFF will be the host continental federation. Classic Bodybuilding will be run as previously, with 5 categories plus overall. But some questions were raised regarding the IFBB World Cup, which traditionally was held in conjunction with these Championships. Finally, it was decided that two additional events will be run:* Men’s Physique World Cup (included all 4 categories) and Bikini Fitness Ms. International (included all 6 categories). The April’s World Ladies Cup in Kiev, Ukraine, will include all women’s fitness sports, so there will be no second World Fitness Cup in autumn.
WORLD AND EUROPEAN CHILDREN FITNESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Up till now, EBFF and Eastern European countries are the driving force in children fitness but the idea has gradually been spreading into other continents, what was seen at the very successful recent Children Fitness Congress in Mexico City, with participation of 15 Latin American countries. The 5[SUP]th[/SUP] World Children Fitness Championships will be held in mid June in Novi Sad, Serbia, once again, and the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] European Children Fitness Championships late in October in Budapest, Hungary. This idea has proved to be very valuable and needed, especially as IFBB has promoted Fitness, together with Classic Bodybuilding, as a future Olympic sports. EBFF urges all National Federations from Europe (and the world as well) to do their best to develop children fitness and to cooperate with national acrobatic, gymnastic, dancingand other sport organizations to select children with predisposition to fitness (proper body structure and flexibility).
WORLD LADIES CUP
This new IFBB event was inaugurated last year in Kiev. Based on its good attendance and publicity, the organizers decided to continue this concept and make it an annual event. EBFF approved it with pleasure, so there will be the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] edition of this contest in mid April. The event has been moved to the ACCO International Exhibition Center – the same where the 2013 World Fitness Championships took place, and will include Expo fairs. The event includes Women Fitness (2 categories), Women Bodyfitness (3 categories) and Women Bikini Fitness (4 categories) at least. Money awards will be distributed among all finalists in each category. Inspection Report will be published soon.
ARNOLD AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
For this year three Arnold Amateur Championships, commonly called Arnold Classic (however Arnold Classic is the name of the pro event) are planned:
- Arnold Amateur North America – Columbus, Ohio, USA (open for all countries)
- Arnold Amateur South America – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (open for Latin America and North America)
- Arnold Amateur Europe – Madrid, Spain (open for all countries)
Arnold Weekend in Australia is progressing for 2015.
AMATEUR OLYMPIAS
The idea of Amateur Olympia is also expanding. Following the popularity and publicity* of two Amateur Mr. Olympias in the Gulf states and two Amateur Bikini Olympias in the Czech Republic, the concept has been evolved in the direction of multi-sport Amateur Olympias. This year we can expect the following events:
- Amateur Olympia Latin America in Acapulco, Mexico
- Amateur Olympia Europe in Prague, Czech Republic
- World Amateur Olympia in Moscow, Russia (open to all countries)
- Amateur Olympia Asia in Korea
Amateur Olympia in Prague will be the first (beginning of June) and will include Men Bodybuilding, Men Physique, Women Fitness, Women Physique and Bikini Fitness. The scope of other Amateur Olympias will be fixed soon.
THE 2[SUP]ND[/SUP] BEN WEIDER DIAMOND CUP
Following its successful inauguration in Athens, Greece, the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Ben Weider Cup will be held this year. The date and place is still an open matter. National Federations may send their bids to the IFBB Headquarter in Madrid.
MOZOLANI CLASSIC
This is a new event in the EBFF Calendar. Its amateur part will include: International Bodybuilding and Classic Bodybuilding Championships of Slovakia as well as Bikini Fitness and Master Men Bodybuilding Cup. This event will be devoted to celebrate the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the Slovak Federation (was established in 1964 as the Czechoslovak Bodybuilding Federation). Prize money for amateurs will be
USD 6*000 in total.
INTERESTING DISCUSSIONS AND PROPOSALS
- EBFF Technical Committee Chairperson Wanda Tierney (UK) proposed to include as well Men’s Fitness in the program of the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. This proposal received unanimous support and Azerbaijan Federation President Rauf Bunyataliyev was asked to search if it would be possible.
- EBFF Vice-President and Russian Federation President Vladimir Dubinin proposed to change the names of new categories: Men’s Physique and Women’s Physique, which are even difficult to translate in many languages in a style proper for sport disciplines, to: Men’s and Women’s Beach Fitness. While in case of Men’s Physique it was considered as a very interesting idea (taking into account the apparel and overall style of presentation), in case of Women’s Physique it is not so clear. But, in general, the concept seems to be very interesting as it is “in line” with the current trends in other sports, creating theirs “beach” versions, and as bodybuilding and fitness will be included in more and more Beach Games of the Olympic Program.
- World Bodybuilding Championships and World ClassicBodybuilding Championships in one combined event. As we remember, the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] IFBB World Classic Bodybuilding Championships were held in conjunction with the World Bodybuilding Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in 2006. Nowadays, there are as many as 5 separate IFBB World Championships: Bodybuilding, Classic Bodybuilding, Fitness, Junior & Masters and Children Fitness. It seems that some of them could be combined to create bigger events, avoid extra costs of travels around the world and avoid problems with finding so many organizers each year. First of all, World Bodybuilding and World Classic Bodybuilding Championships could be combined, giving not more than 15 categories in total. To compare: World Fitness Championships include 19 categories (after removal of Women’s Bodybuilding and Women’s and Men’s Athletic Fitness but including 6 Bikini Fitness classes and 4 Men’s Physique classes), World Juniors & Masters Championships include 23 categories (after removal of Junior and Masters Women’s Bodybuilding as well as Wheelchair Bodybuilding but including 2 Junior Women’s Bikini Fitness classes).
Combined Bodybuilding and Classic Bodybuilding Championships plus annual IFBB International Congress will be the most prestigious sport event, with the biggest attendance of National Federations (some of them take part in the Classic Bodybuilding Championships only). *This proposal will be submitted to the IFBB Congress.
- Medals and trophies. IFBB and its Continental Federations need hundreds of medals and trophies (cups, statuettes) for their annual championships. President Santonja informed that the IFBB HQ signedcontract with the prestigious company from Hong Kong, Dreams Concept, who will provide all this awards for all the World Championships.
- EBFF Judges Committee Chairman and German Federation President Erich Janner proposed to establish weight/height limits in Women’s Physique. After discussion, it was decided that it is too early to do this and more experience and analysis are needed. This proposal will be evaluated in the future once again.
- Athletes Representative and Austrian Federation President Dr. Wolfgang Schober delivered 2 proposals. First was to establish two Junior Women’s Bikini Fitness categories: up to 163 cm and over 163 cm. Taking into account that the number of competitors in this category raised to 18 at the 2013 European Juniors Championships and to 24 at the 2012 World Juniors Championships, this proposal was approved and will be in force from the 2014 European Championships in Santa Susanna.
The second Mr. Schober’s proposal was to replace Fitness categories by Rhythmic Fitness categories and to reduce the allowed moves in fitness routines to aerobics, dance and similar kind of presentation, removing acrobatic, strength and flexibility moves. This proposal was not approved but further studies will be made if any changes in the current fitness rules are required to minimize the risk of injury.
- EBFF General Secretary and United Kingdom Federation President William Tierney proposed to establish a point system to earn the Pro Card. After discussion, this proposal was directed for further study.
More...
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