Thanks to Jake Wood and Wings of Strength, the Ms. Olympia Bodybuilding Championship will be returning to the Olympia Weekend in December. It’s an exciting time for the sport of female bodybuilding, and we can expect to see the best pro women in the sport competing on stage together. Except, not really all of them.
The 2018 Rising Phoenix Champion, Alina Popa, who would certainly be a favored competitor, will not be on stage to battle it out against 2020 Rising Phoenix World Champion Helle Trevino, former Ms. Olympia Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia, legendary 10-time Ms. Olympia Iris Kyle, and more. Why? Because Alina is now an executive with Wings of Strength, and is too busy behind the scenes helping Jake Wood plan the event. She realizes that she can’t possibly do that and spend the time, effort and energy it would take to be at her best for the show.
“I am a big believer in what Jake and Wings are trying to accomplish,” Alina says, “and I think that is much more important than my entering any contest, even one as important as the Ms. Olympia.”
One disappointing aspect of this is that Alina came within a whisker of beating Iris Kyle at the Ms. Olympia in 2014, and it would be great to see a rematch between the two female bodybuilding powerhouses.
