Greene

For Your News Columbus

Posted 03-08-10

For the second straight year, Kai Greene won the Arnold Classic, main event at the annual Arnold Sports Festival.

His win over 12 other top bodybuilders earned him the $130,000 winner’s check, the richest prize the sport, and assorted goodies. He also won $10,000 for Most Entertaining Pose.

Iris Kyle picked up the Ms. International crown for the fifth time since 2004.

The champions may have been familiar, but newcomers and new events definitely had their place at this year’s festival.

On Friday, the day before Datton Nguyen was to take part in the weightlifting competition, he was pumping quarters into a parking meter across the street from the Greater Columbus Convention Center, one of the venues for the popular annual event. The young competitor from El Paso, Texas, competed in the 77-kilo division (169 ¾ pounds)

Nguyen was mesmerized by the sport when he first saw it in the 1996 Olympics, but didn‘t try it until 2003. He has been competing since 2006 under the coaching of Kirk Davis of Akron, who is the strength coach at the University of El Paso.

If all goes to plan, the Arnold will be a stepping stone to Nguyen's Olympic dream to be part of the U.S. team at the 2012 Games in London.

Weightlifting is one of 12 Olympic events at this year’s sports festival and among 44 activities altogether at the still-growing extravaganza.

The aura of the Arnold encompasses not only the immediate area around the convention center and Veterans Memorial.

Shoppers at the Kroger store at N. High Street and 9^th Avenue were talking about going back to the Arnold Fitness Expo to “get more free stuff” from the many vendors with health and fitness products.

On such a busy weekend, some of the folks at the Courtyard by Marriott on the Far West Side said they weren’t in town for the Arnold, but rather for the Ohio High School State Wrestling Tournament. One of the adults went so far as to say the wrestling was “bigger than the Arnold.”

Well, don’t tell that to the thousands of people who were Downtown since Thursday for a plethora of sporting, fitness and recreational activities, including a “Second Shot” wrestling competition for high school wrestlers who didn’t win state titles.

The Arnold included high schoolers, middle schoolers, senior citizens and every other age bracket among its participants and spectators.

This marked the fourth year for the Arnold Active Living Festival, which included two major firsts for seniors, competitive dancing and a new sports called “Pickleball.” The latter combines the strategies of tennis and badminton. The equipment is a paddle about twice the size of a table tennis paddle and a ball like a whiffle ball.

Apollo Ionas of Washington, Mich., who was the champion in the seniors division, said the new sport is extremely challenging. And yet, the games simplicity is what’s making it one of the fasting growing sports.

People who were still on an extreme sports high from the recent Winter Olympics might have wanted to watch the skateboarding competition, which made its Arnold debut this year.

Spectators might have wanted to check out any of the martial arts, boxing, archery, gymnastics or arm wrestling. In this atmosphere even cheerleading has a different vibe and a higher decibel level that your typical Friday night football game.

One of the biggest attractions for many visitors is people watching, whether at the amateur events, at the fitness exposition or at one of the competitions with the hulks who started the whole festival, the bodybuilders.

Sylvester Stallone of Rocky and Rambo fame received the Arnold Schwarzenegger Lifetime Achievement Award from the California governor, co-founder of the festival.

A sports photography workshop and an art contest have even ramped up the observation of this year’s competition, which winds up Sunday, March 7.

For results of the Arnold Classic, see www.arnoldsportsfestival.com.

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