Ms. Olympia

Ms. Olympia is the title given to the winner of the women's bodybuilding portion of Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international professional bodybuilding competition that was held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB). It was first held in 1980, and from 2000 to 2014 it has been held at the same time as the Mr. Olympia contest as part of the "Olympia Weekend". The 2000 contest also saw the introduction of weight classes. No overall winner was named in 2000, but starting in 2001, a posedown between the two class winners decided the overall title. In 2005, the contest returned to the one open class format. The top overall winners are Iris Kyle (ten overall and two heavyweight), Lenda Murray (eight), Corinna Everson (six), and Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls (four). In 2014, the final Ms. Olympia competition was held.

In 1980, the first Ms. Olympia (initially known as the "Miss" Olympia) was held with Rachel McLish winning and becoming the first Ms. Olympia. Rachel was dethroned by Ritva Elomaa in 1981, but regained the title in 1982. George Snyder lost the rights to the Ms. Olympia in 1982, and after this the contestants were no longer hand-picked, but instead qualified for the Ms. Olympia through placings in lesser contests. As female bodybuilding grew and progressed, the competitors' level of training gradually increased, with most of the competitors in the earliest shows having very little weight training experience, and the sport slowly evolving towards more muscular physiques. This trend started to emerge in 1983, with McLish not competing in the big shows, Carla Dunlap won the 1983 Ms. Olympia. Dunlap possessed a much more muscular physique than previous Ms. Olympia winners McLish or Elomaa.

In 1984, Corinna Everson won the Ms. Olympia title. Everson would go on to win six consecutive Ms. Olympia titles in a row before retiring in 1989 undefeated as a professional, the only woman ever to accomplish this.

Normally, competitors must qualify for the Ms. Olympia by achieving certain placings in lesser pro contests. However, the cancellation of the Women's Pro World contest in 1990 left only the Ms. International as a Ms. Olympia qualifier. Consequently, the IFBB decided to open the 1990 Ms. Olympia to all women with pro cards, and a field of thirty competitors entered. This was also the first Ms. Olympia without the incumbent Ms. Olympia champion defending her title. Lenda Murray earned a decisive victory by winning the first Ms. Olympia competition she attended in 1990 and emerging as the successor to Corinna Everson. The 1991 Ms. Olympia was the first to be televised live. Lenda Murray barely edged out Bev Francis, a former Australian powerlifter, by a single point that year. Lenda Murray faced a serious challenge from Denise Rutkowski in 1993, and some argue that Rutkowski, not Murray, should have won that year. Rutkowski shocked the Ms. Olympia contest entourage and fans by retiring in 1994, just as her career was gaining mainstream popularity and her potential for winning a Ms. Olympia title was high.

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