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Genetically, Iris was extremely good. Her back in particular stood out for me. I don't think that the women she was up against were poor, and I personally think that her superiority did make the other women push themselves. Betty Viana at the 2008 Olympia, for example, had some serious mass and looked great, and could have won the show. But then she never attained that shape again and ended up switching to physique. Iris' real strength was her ability to do it year after year.
Yeah, let me be clear - the women she was competing against were world class! I prefer the likes of Yaxeni Oriquen, Heather Armbrust, and Betty Viana to be honest. But it’s like you said: her genetics and her intake of PEDs made her tough to beat.
And that's kinda sad when you think about it but it also says a lot, that people in the bodybuilding fandoms / communities don't really care about Iris Kyle and rarely talk about her.
People will talk more about girls like Alina Popa, Helle Trevino, Margie V Martin etc etc, who have more sex appeal, than Iris Kyle even though she is the most decorated female bodybuilder ever and BY FAR.
That’s a big reason why I brought this up. I was surprised to learn that a good number of fans don’t like her much. Then I also noticed that many bodybuilders would soon name Lenda Murray as an inspiration over Iris. Heck, Andrea Shaw just did the same thing during an Instagram Q&A, mentioning Lenda and Alina Popa as her favorite past competitors, but didn’t mention Iris.
I've also noticed that very few women have Iris Kyle as an inspiration. More women seem to cite Nicole Wilkins, Dana Linn Bailey, Alina Popa and Lends Murray than Iris. I wonder why?
Both Lenda and Angela are very dark, I wouldn’t say that had much to do with it, especially with how many popular male bodybuilders there were.
Generally, there haven’t been too many top notch black women (much to my mother’s dismay, because I’m sure she despises the fact anytime she caught my stash there werent many black women in there). Even now with Shaw, Margie Martin, Shanique (now retired), how many other women are there that you could name off the top of your head as a casual?
And that's kinda sad when you think about it but it also says a lot, that people in the bodybuilding fandoms / communities don't really care about Iris Kyle and rarely talk about her.
People will talk more about girls like Alina Popa, Helle Trevino, Margie V Martin etc etc, who have more sex appeal, than Iris Kyle even though she is the most decorated female bodybuilder ever and BY FAR.
It was during Iris’s reign of victories that social media really took off and even then I remember thinking how we never see or hear much from her except when it’s time to compete. She got back on people’s radar when she was suppose to make a mini-comeback last year but for whatever reason that didn’t pan out. Her IG is overall pretty plain and basic being full of product ads. Being such a decorated FBB it would seem she has no real involvement in being an ambassador for the sport(I don’t have the knowledge to speak as to why that is). Honestly I can see why she’s gets forgotten.
I will also say that Kim Chizevsky is another woman who rarely gets a mention from other FBBs of today. I remember all this talk of the Olympia winner getting too big and ripped or whatever really started with Kim, not Iris. She might as well not have existed as well.
Many people are just bad personalities. Not that she’s nice but she might be all about the work and none of the fluff. That turns off a lot of people. Mat Fraser is a good analogy in the crossfit world, just Uber focused. maybe Michaela Aycock, she’s not much for the advertising and drama side of the business. She just wants to do the hard work. So time passed her by when a lot of people got popular on social media.
Maybe Shannon Courtney is a good analogy here, or maybe Dani Reardon. Extraordinarily good looking and great social media presence without going overboard (during their prime stretches) and they blew up. If Either of them stuck around now they’d have a quarter mil followers
Heck, Natasha Aughey hasn’t competed in years and she’s got over 1 mil, and she’s as bland as they come but she’s a smokeshow with a killer body. I think Iris would have been very prominent and popular if social media was 10 years earlier
There comes a point when the women start to look like drag queens....thats what turns people away.
Exactly!
Here is the skinny I was at a pro show and I was talking to some guys that are ifbb pros I said Debi Laszewski should have won one Ms Olympia and Yaxani should have won 3 more. They told me iris is fuckin the head of the ifbb and she will always win no matter what. She has no personality like Cory and Leenda she knows the fix is in a people hate unfair competition. There are a lot of great prospects in women's bodybuilding give it time and they will erase iris
Don't think its a specific person rather than the nature of the beast.
You need on constantly improve and out do the rest or give up. Which means various drugs to be bigger than last year. Sooner or later it hits the point where almost nobody wants to see it and they basically have to reset the whole thing. Heck the current "Bikini" girls already look more like what used to be figure or fitness, as we watch history repeat itself.
Also you have to remember that if you are on this site, chances are you are in the extreme minority. I can post a picture on twitter for example of a skinny girl with no muscle except abs. And get loads of comments about "Ewwww she's got abs" and the like. That makes for a small target audience, which means there is no money in it. So the bigger they get the less commercially viable they are. I'm not saying zero dollars but on a commercial level its next to nothing.
Think the NBA vs WNBA its a lot like Mr. O vs Ms. O
Until recently anyways, NBA packed every game and had insane viewership, advertising money rains from the sky. On the flipside WNBA only exists because the NBA pays for it, they cant even fill half a stadium even if tickets are totally free, nearly no viewership because nobody wants to watch a bunch of layups. Very little advertising income, means the players are worth way less, and in return pay massively less.
or maybe they did and iris had a slight genetic advantage that made it unobtainable for them? everybody is different like that.
I pulled the 2007 line up out and she placed over Dayana Cadeau (who I think didn't look that great), and Yaxeni who looked pretty good (prime Sarah Dunlap was in that lineup!! and one of Annie Rivieccios great years. A few of those years were pretty weak IMO.
This isn't exactly a bastion of journalism but this article has some interesting quotes from the time: https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Women...
It looks like other competitors were slighted when Iris got TOO big and was rewarded for it, forcing everyone to catch up, but it was too late.
Honestly, looking at the results, the only thing stopping her from winning overalls in 2000-2003 was Lenda Murray, two overalls from Juliette Bergman was just immaculate back then. So it looks like it was the increased steroid use that really put her over the top there. Since then women only got bigger.