Overall
Stefan Havlik
Stefan Havlik
2012 Arnold Amateur Finals
Report by Ron Harris
Not many of us in America will ever have the chance to see the IFBB World Amateur Championships, as it’s usually held in Asia or the Middle East. The most recent edition was held in Mumbai, India. But thanks to the Arnold Amateur event, you don’t need to go any further than Columbus, Ohio to see the best amateur bodybuilders from around the world. Since it’s tough for most of these athletes to both turn pro and to get any exposure, they now flock to this event. Over 700 competitors from 82 nations competed at this year’s Arnold Amateur show, and the quality was outstanding – ‘world class’ doesn’t even do it justice.
Women’s Lightweight (up to 55 kg)
Hong Kong’s Lo Kit Ming beat our American Wanda Keeler from Kansas based on both condition and presentation (better poser). She also had tremendous back development. Wanda had better overall balance, as Lo was a bit light in the wheels, but Lo’s superior condition could not be denied.
Women’s Heavyweight (over 55 kg)
This class went to Olga Puzanova from Russia, a stunning blonde with a polished, balanced physique. Olga was in great shape and was also a captivating poser.
Women’s Overall
Olga Puzanova seemed to be an easy choice for the Overall, given that Lo Kit Ming needs more leg size to balance out her physique.
Men’s Lightweight (up to 70 kg)
Russia’s Nazin Ilya won the lightest division based on his big back, shredded glutes, and overall density,
Men’s Welterweight (up to 75 kg)
The Philippines had two athletes in the top five here, but it was Roman Cortuna who won the class. Roman has big, well-shaped legs and a very complete physique with a nice visual ‘flow’ to it. His back and biceps development was also noteworthy. In fact, I have no explanation for this, but overall I saw much better backs on these international competitors than I usually do on American national-level competitors. Roman could have been sharper, but it was good enough to win this class.
Men’s Light-Middleweight (up to 80 kg)
This was a class where two guys were very close for the win. Runner-up Muneer Aljassas from Saudi Arabia had an unreal X-frame and just amazing genetic structure and shape. But he couldn’t get past the eventual winner, Mahmut Irmak from Turkey. Mahmut has a very classic look to him, with some of the best arms and quads in the whole show. He had won his class at the Arnold Europe last fall in Madrid. Some of the poses he hit were actually reminiscent of Arnold himself, albeit a shorter and more compact version.
Men’s Middleweight (up to 85 kg)
This was the only class I saw where the winner was totally obvious, pretty much a pro among amateurs. Charles Mario Soares from Brazil is a former Overall NABBA Mr. Universe, and what a physique on this guy! I can see him doing very well as a 212 IFBB Pro. His arms in particular were amazing, and the splintered detail on his legs from the side was unique in the show.
Men’s Light=Heavyweight (up to 90 kg)
Venezuela’s Jose Angel Bustamante won this very large and competitive division thanks to his big delts, freaky hams and calves, and overall detail. Oddly, his legs weren’t nearly as sharp from behind as they were from the front,
Men’s Heavyweight (up to 100 kg)
This class had some battles! Had the whole show been today, I feel that Slovenia’s Miha Zuhan would have walked away with it. The man was insanely full and shredded, with the clearest glute striations in the whole show. His delts and quads are also spectacular. But he was flat yesterday when it really counted.
Runner-up Oleksandr Slobodyanyuk from the Ukraine had a lot of shredded mass. But in the end, it was pre-contest favorite Stefan Havlik from Slovakia who took the class. Stefan has a great overall shape and balance, with particularly good legs.
Men’s Super Heavyweight (over 100 kg)
The heaviest weight class was also very tough, and many seemed upset at the outcome. I certainly was scratching my head. In third place was Hngary’s Daniel Toth, a man who packs a lot of mass on a compact frame. His condition and color could both have been better.
Runner-up was Alexey Shabunia from Belarus. I and many others assumed he was going to win. What a gifted structure! Shabunia has some of the widest lats and delts you’ll ever see, tapering down to a small waist and with flaring quads. He was also in great shape and had perfect color. The minute I saw him, I thought this was going to be the Overall winner of the show. Not so.
Overall
Stefan Havlik
Super Heavyweight
1. Dalibor Hajek
2. Aliaksei Shabunia
3. Daniel Toth
4. Sergey Bazarov
5. Dave Titterton
6. Julio Balestrim
7. Francisco Corral
8. Matt Davis
9. Petr Brezna
10. Victor Silva
Martin Dudas
Alirez Ziaabadi
Attia Shaalan
Carlos Rodriguez
Raed Rahman
David Plew
Marc Dautruche
Sean Mickle
Mitchell Hess
Mike Nysten
Heavyweight
1. Stefan Havlik
2. Oleksandr Slobodyanyuk
3. Hiha Zupan
4. Igor Vybornov
5. Fontana Paolo
6. Gilberto Ciriello
7. Marshel Herman
8. Antonio Furic
9. Carlos Rodriguez
10. Baleegh Almohaimeed
Tomas Kaspar
Gonzalo Arrua
Snithers Briggs
Antal Dudas
Nooh Eid
Dennis Santos
Etienne Eduarda
Vuzumzi Njisane
Arash Navidi
Colt Minneci
James McKown
Hossein Marzbanian
Jorge Asp
Mohamad Khaled
Jan Kutis
Light Heavyweight
1. Angel Bustamante
2. Enad Alharbi
3. Brian Hart
4. Jon Griffiths
5. Tony Searle
6. Abdullah Rahby
7. Eduardo Miranda
8. Ariel Cervantes
9. Adel Elbassiony
10. Fabian Gonzalez
Ken Hensley
Almohaimeed Ahmed
Moustafa Alaasr
Aldredo Wanzaller
Michael Spencer
Agostinho Figueiredo
Mehdi Hatami
Martin Rezek
Jim Pickett
Manuel Nartah
Sadik Inan
Middleweight
1. Charles Soares
2. Cengizhan Igdir
3. Esequiel Coneicao
4. Ahmed Osman
5. Mack Grech
6. Gregor Franciska
7. Pedro Cantero
8. Ekpe Egbonyi
9. Verdine Connor
10. Julio Mejia
Jose Ponce
Sasi Raush
Ahmed Sadany
Diego Umanzor
Alasan Jobarteh
Fabian Hong
Alghamdi Ahmed
Michael Adonis
Sergio Oliveira
Light Middleweight
1. Mahmut Irmak
2. Muneer Aljassas
3. Luiz Sarmento
4. Chris Jones
5. Masashi Suzuki
6. Hernan Lugo
7. Jan Sotak
8. Rodrigo Alves
9. Arnaldo Libert
10. Fan Yue
Waldo Garcia Tinajero
Randy Tiner
Tony DArceneaux
Yu Hong
Luis Fontanez
Roderick Ternida
Coppola Franceso
Nuo Sun
Supry Sos
Zachary Geese
Paul Jayilian
Perivaldo Oliveira
Mahmoud Neamatalla
Eduardo Motta
Andriy Sharapov
Welterweight
1. Roman Cortuna
2. Francisco De Assis
3. Bader Ebrahim Sultan
4. Javier Miranda
5. Kevin Gan
6. Diego Salinas
7. Andrew Awak
8. Diego Santos
9. Antonio Bellaroba
10. Vyacheslav Makogon
Eric Hannah
Jose Acenedo
Sergio Sandoval
John Fettes
Arachchilage Wijesinghe
Habia Gibba
Mike Grezzo
Abdulrasaq Kazeem
Mohamed Miranda
Lightweight
1. Nazin Ilya
2. Milfi Alghamdi
3. Lee Chi
4. Jose Santos
5. Luciano Karim
6. Lin Qing
7. Koji Godo
8. Alejandro Duarto
9. Bertuzzi Christian
10. Scorpion Garcia
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