HISTORY

My Journey to  Female Bodybuilding

Prior to 'competitive BodyBuilding' I played competition squash for the State of Queensland in Australia.  I was the No. 1 player for the team in the top Womens Amateur Rank.  I often played throughout the State and Interstate at various tournaments for money and prizes but it was the competition I really enjoyed.  I have always been competitive by nature and so climbed the ladder in squash very quickly with no formal training at all.  I really enjoyed the game and took to it like 'a duck to water'.  It was in 1988 that I sustained an injury while playing my semi finals game that I first stepped into the gym and a whole new sport was unleashed into my system....(continued below).

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VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA 1994

This is me at Golds Gym - Venice Beach while I was on vacation. Although it was hard work pumping up for the photographer for hours but it was worth it looking at the photos later and I felt very much at home shooting here in the "MECCA".

PHOTOGRAPH BY : Steve Wennerstrom

(I finally got to meet this fabulous guy who photographed my sister in the early '80's.  What a great guy and so easy to work with.

The injury caused a partial tear to my gastrocnemius (calf) during a sudden lunge forward in that match, hence I could not continue playing that match and had to wait for another season to commence.

During the season break I undertook some physio and quickly started to recover although I could still feel a slight weakness in my calf and was not confident to go straight back into squash without some strength training.  My sister Kathy a former national and international bodybuiding title holder throughout the 80's advised me to come into her local gym and start a program to gain some additional strength.....Although I fully supported kathy in her shows I was not really keen on becoming a female bodybuilder myself (well prior to my working out that is!) and I was already enjoying top level competition in a totally different sport.....Anyhow, I realised that training 2-3 times per week would actually help my squash matches so under Kathy's supervision I started my all over body workout 3 days per week.  Ofcourse it was not long before I had increased to 5&6 workouts per week and well the rest is history (see contests)

In 1989 after 8 months  training I competed in my first competition held at the Sydney Opera House (and boy was I nervous!!!!)   There were only 5 girls in our line up but 3 girls had been training for years and had won titles previously.  One of those girls was my sister Kathy!   A couple of girls pulled out when they found out she was competing???  I just wanted to get up there and do my best as a beginner and shake of some of my shyness.  I placed 4th and ofcourse Kathy won it!

In 1990 I enterd and won the State Championships and went on to win the National Championships the same year.  Thereafter each year I had a streak of wins both Nationally and Internationally finally achieving the ultimate in 1993 winning both the Ms World and Ms Universe and overall titles in both in the same year.  I then took my place in the NABBA history books to be one of two female bodybuilders todate to have won both international titles in the same year.  Leisa Campbell was the previous winner.

In 1994/95 an article was written by Steve Winnerstrom (photographer and author for Womens Physique World) called 'SISTER ACT' which covered the history and successes of both kathy and I as sisters.

After winning all the NABBA international titles and being advised I had too much muscle to switch over to compete for a pro card with the IFBB at that time, I decided to take some time off competition and became semi-retired.   I kept on training ofcourse and after 6 years out of competition I was getting the bug again.  My choices were to compete back with the NABBA for the same titles or switch over to the IFBB for a pro card!

In 1999 I decided to compete with the IFBB for the first time and shed 4 kilos to stay within the IFBB Australian guidelines.....I won the  IFBB Pro-qualyfier and then placed 4th in the IFBB World Championships in October 1999.

Notes of Thanks to my family

Thank you to my sister Kathy for sharing her expert advice, knowledge and guidance in those initial years coming into this sport as well as her continued support throughout my career....What a great sport!

Thank you to my mum and dad for their continued complete support throughout my career

I love you all