Villegas calls out Schwarzenegger for omitting Women’s Physique.
Sarah Villegas, two-time Women’s Physique Olympia winner, is not happy with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his team for leaving out the Women’s Physique division from the 2023 Arnold Classic.
Women’s Physique was also omitted from the 2021 and 2022 Arnold Classic competition schedule, and the female athletes were already frustrated because of this decision.
Many believed that Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Arnold Sports Festival organizers got the message, and would include Women’s Physique in 2023, but it seems they are allegedly not interested.
The Women’s Physique event was only organized between 2015 to 2020 at the Arnold Sports Festival.
Many athletes accepted the omission of a number of divisions from the 2021 Arnold Sports Festival, due to the pandemic, but they all expected that they would return in 2022.
“Instead of putting out sound bites, we will just do it with actions. We, Women’s Physique, will do it bigger and better than @ArnoldSports , just like we did last weekend in Texas. There is no stopping the women’s physique train!”
Arnold Schwarzenegger is allegedly not a fan of female bodybuilding. The Miss International female Bodybuilding event was omitted from the Arnold Sports Festival in 2014 and the Olympia Weekend organizers followed. Female bodybuilding was a part of the event from 1989 to 2013, with Iris Kyle being the last winner.
Since then, the Ms. Olympia event returned to the Olympia Weekend with great success. Olympia Weekend owner Jake Wood is a great supporter of female bodybuilding and physique events.
In recent years, the Women’s Physique athletes have improved greatly, presenting bigger, conditioned and ripped physiques, they have become a fan favourite.
Two-time Women’s Physique winner, Sarah Villegas, steps on stage in such incredible condition, very few male athletes can achieve such condition. Nobody can understand why Schwarzenegger and his organizing committee refuse to include these Divisions.
With just a bit more size, the Women’s Physique athletes can easily move up to the Women’s Bodybuilding division. The close similarity to Women’s Bodybuilding could be the reason why Arnold allegedly refuses to include this at his event.
“Women’s physique is bigger than one show, much bigger. And that’s what the Arnold Classic has become to me, just a show.”
Sarah Villegas vents her frustration on social media
Immediately after the schedule for the 2023 Arnold Sports Festival was published, Sarah Villegas was livid and published message, calling out Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Arnold Sports Festival organizers.
“Once again, The Women’s Physique division has been excluded from the 2023 @arnoldsports in Columbus. I was hoping last year was a one-time exclusion, but it appears that @schwarzenegger chose to eliminate women’s physique from the Arnold Classic permanently.
“Women’s physique is bigger than one show, much bigger. And that’s what the Arnold Classic has become to me, just a show. Women’s physique is one of the biggest events on the Olympia stage and is now at the IFBB Pro League’s main show, The Pittsburgh Pro.
“Instead of putting out sound bites, we will just do it with actions. We, Women’s Physique, will do it bigger and better than @ArnoldSports , just like we did last weekend in Texas. There is no stopping the women’s physique train!”#WPDstrong #WeAreWomensPhysique – Sarah Villegas.
Sarah was so frustrated, she said the Arnold Classic “Is just a show”, meaning it is just a second-tier show.
Sarah also said that the biggest Women’s Physique events are organized by the Olympia weekend and Jim Manion’s Pittsburgh Pro.
Bodybuilding world reacts
Sarah was not the only one frustrated with the exclusion of Women’s Physique from the 2023 Arnold Classic. A number of stars such as 10X Ms. Olympia Iris Kyle, Fierce Fit Steph Stephanie Marie and other bodybuilding news websites commented on Sarah’s post.
10X Ms. Olympia Iris Kyle – “OMG!! Now what’s the reason, Don’t blame it on money…
Women should have the same privileges as our male counterpart?
This absolutely SADDEN me to see women are NOT receiving the SAME opportunity to perform their craft.”
Fierce Fit Steph – “Last year when asked he said it wasn’t about money but rather timing.”
“No 212 again either ! So 3 divisions in bb just don’t exist to him.”
“I just have to add after looking at the sports list at the festival that it’s really sad he chose pole dance and face slapping over having 3 IFBB divisions.”
With such allegations from Sarah Villegas, the Arnold Classic organizers are expected to react; Evolutionofbodybuilding.net will keep our readers up-to-date with the latest developments.
