For the first time ever the NABBA Universe was held in the northern city of  Newcastle on Tyne in England.  This proved to be a good move for NABBA as the audience was the largest we have seen for several years.  Many had turned out to cheer on local idol Eddy Ellwood as he attempted to equal the record for most Professional Universe wins, namely 5. This record was held by Eduardo Kawak winning 4 in a row and then one more some years later.

There was also a massive entry of contestants - 139 from a total of 49 countries.

Australia had a strong contingent with entries in the Masters, Men's Open  Short, Men's Open Medium Short, and three women in the Figure Class Short, and a single competitor Monica Wright in the Women's Fitness Division. 

South  Australia with a population of just over 1 million was particularly well represented with Terri Roberts and Stella Dinan both competing in the Figure
Class; veteran Kym Johncock in the Men's Masters, Keith Long in the Men's
Open Medium Short, and Nick Jones in the Men's Open Short Class. Truly a wonderful record for the local physique organization SABBA.

For all Australians the absolute highlight of the evening show was the fantastic win by the unsurpassable Terri ROBERTS in her class, Figure Class  2.  The small but very vocal contingent of Aussies lifted the roof when Terri was announced the winner over Russian Tatyana Kovalko.  Terri came in  to this competition in the absolute peak of condition, and thoroughly  deserved to win. Her condition was incredible with the perfect combination of symmetry, size and paper thin skin. Congratulations Terri on a superb victory.

Another South Aussie, Stella Dinan also confounded her "critics".  Stella  wowed the crowd from the very first moment she stepped onto the Prejudging stage - also in Figure Class 2. Definitely the best butt in the contest, according to many of the comments I heard around the video camera!!  Stella  edged out veteran Australian Loretta McMillan (a former Miss Universe class winner) to take 5th place to Loretta's 6th and it was well deserved.  Stella received 4 call-outs and was hot with the judges right from the start as they loved her look.

Loretta was not in the best condition of her career, looking a touch heavy and probably too muscular for the judges on this occasion.  But Stella simply glowed on stage - she looked so happy to be there. It was her first international being also her first overseas trip.

The overall Women's Figure title was eventually won by the incomparable Tall Class 1 winner, Giovanna ROSA of Italy - but not before Terri gave her a real run for her money.  Terri had the best back muscularity and arms, but Giovanna Rosa really did present the best overall package. Her symmetry is classic, and she was tight and hard with a good degree of size.  She also moved beautifully. I think it was her 3rd overall Universe in a row.

To be fair to all the Aussie guys, the line-ups were huge, and the quality was extremely high.  Nick Jones looked pleased to be in the final 6, but that was as far as he got.  Nick was very disappointed with his 6th placing in Class 4, but here again he looked as though he was still carrying a lot of fluid, and was probably still a little heavy despite his acclimatization time in the UK.  In my opinion Nick was still a few days away from his peak. 

My first impression of Nick as he came on stage was that he looked to be the biggest guy in his line-up. This in no way detracts from the incredible new workout video shot by us with Nick over the weeks just prior to the Universe, and he is a certain future class winner in my opinion.

Here again the class was enormously strong, and it would have taken perfection to beat the Libyan born class winner, KAMAL EL GARGNI of UK. Kamal is short, but presents an almost flawless package of symmetry, muscularity, and definition.  See our photos of him in our Gallery and our soon to be released video on Kamal.

In my opinion Kamal was very unlucky not to win the overall Universe. His condition was the best of the 4 class winners. He told me that he weighed 13 stone 2 pounds on the day, and that is 185 lbs. He has done 6 contests this  year winning 5, plus 1 second. Look for our Kamal video release in time for Xmas.

Australia's Kym Johncock also placed 6th in the Men's Masters, despite having won the Overall Australian Championships just 2 weeks before.  The winner of this class was an absolutely huge 40 year old Terry FISHER of the UK, and he totally blitzed the opposition.  Kym appeared to have lost size and definition - and it was obvious he didn't travel as well on this particular occasion as when he placed 3rd in the Masters several years ago.  Fisher won Class 3 in the Universe 10 year's ago so it was his second Universe title.

The Professional line up of 6 presented a dilemma for the judges.  Sergei Ogorodnikov joined the pro ranks for the first time.  Admittedly he was bigger - much bigger - but in the process he lost his wonderful symmetry, and he also had a case of belly bloat.  

Eddy Ellwood was there, looking bigger than ever, and then there was Giovanny Thompson.  Thompson has the most wonderful shape and definition - he's not huge, but he doesn't have to be.  He presents an elegant symmetry, along the lines of Frank Zane.  He has never been in better shape, and he certainly deserved better than his third place. He was awesome at FIBO this year but ripped at the Universe.

In the end the judges awarded Eddy ELLWOOD first place - he was the biggest man on the stage at around 275 pounds, and I reckon the crowd would have rioted had the judging gone the other way. To be fair Eddy looked better at the show and was a great winner creating history with a record of 5  professional titles in a row.

Ogorodnikov was awarded 2nd but he presented a flawed physique in my  opinion.  

In 4th place I believe it was Gary Guinn of USA with a very nice physique but not quite hard enough this year to hit the top 3.

The Women's Physique was an interesting class.  The line up was bigger, and the standard much higher than previous years.  The German World Champion Gabriele Heidecker was off form from her previous outing at the 2001 Worlds and placed 3rd. (In fact most of the stars from the Worlds in Austria had not been able to hold their fine condition with the possible exception of  David DAHAN in the Juniors.)

First place went to Anja TIMMER of Holland.  Anja was in awesome shape, hard and muscular.  It really was her year after many top placings in the past. There would have been many a man who would die for a back like hers!!!

The Fitness Class consisted of 5 girls from the UK and a single Aussie, Monica WRIGHT. The judging is done over 3 stages - Fitness test, Swimsuit  round, and Aerobics Routine.  Our Monica Wright won the aerobics routine section, and came third in the Fitness Test, and took out overall third prize. A great effort. The overall winner was Nicole PITCHER of UK.

The Men's Junior Class was double the competitors of last year, and won by the  outstanding French 20 year old David DAHAN, the current World Junior Champion.  If this young man continues to improve and compete I am sure we will see him winning in the open classes in the very near future.

The overall Amateur winner came from class 2 being Steffen MUELLER of Germany, with the other class winners being England's Kamal ELGARGNI class 4, Ricky RAMAZZINA of Italy class 1, and Edson PRADO of Brazil the class 3 winner.

Of note here was the victory in Class 3 of PRADO of Brazil as not too many champions have come from Brazil. Secondly he defeated the recent Overall NABBA World Champion, Orazio SALVATORI of Italy forcing him into 2nd place!

The only down side for us was that we were prevented from taping our traditional pump room videos due to the very small and cramped changing rooms back stage at the Newcastle City Hall. I do hope for a bigger venue next year with a proper pump-up area. Now to get stuck into the editing of yet another great NABBA Universe series of videos. 

Tina will have a complete set of results up in our results section as soon as she returns to Australia.