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On May 11th, the 2002 NPC Eastern Seaboard was held at the World Congress Center in Atlanta. I went and met Ronnie. Read my report.

2002 NPC Eastern Seaboard Bodybuilding Championships!

By: Phano Paul Som

On May 11th, the 2002 NPC Eastern Seaboard was held at the World Congress Center in Atlanta. I normally don't go to NPC competitions in Atlanta outside of the Mr. GA because the competitors are far and few but my friends and I made an exception for this particular event. The reason that we decided to attend was because Ronnie Coleman was scheduled to guest pose. When I saw the flyer, I couldn't believe it! The one chance to see the reigning Mr. Olympia guest pose without having to leave Atlanta. So my friends and I got together and decided that we would get the best seats we could possibly get just to get a close up view of the Big Nasty.

I ended up having to be the responsible one who had to show up two hours before the contest started just to get the good seats. So a lot was riding on my being successful. To compound matters, I was stuck with babysitting my 5 year old cousin. It's funny because she likes coming to these bodybuilding contests ever since she saw me at the Mr. GA last year.

I arrived with her at the World Congress Center at about 5:30 PM and bought six $35 tickets, the best they had. We ended up being only 11 rows away from the stage. Now came the long wait for all of my friends and the other spectators and contestants to arrive. I hung out with my cousin at the CNN Center for a couple of hours before things started to happen. At about 6:30, people began to pour into the World Congress Center. If you've never attended an NPC bodybuilding event, then you are truly missing out. The freaks you see in the audience are well worth the trip alone. You see guys that could easily compete and do well but they don't. You see women who are scantily clad flaunting their bodies. I wasn't complaining because it's always fun to watch. To me, bodybuilding events are basically one big fashion show for people with muscles.

The Show

One by one, my friends began to show. We took our seats and the contest began. Fortunately for me, I grabbed a program card to see the list of competitors. Just as I had suspected, only 32 competitors. Once again, a poor turnout for an NPC show outside of the Mr. GA in Atlanta. The first class that went up was the figure class. The guys who handle the GA NPC events decided to do a figure competition and it's slowly but surely taking off. There were a total of four competitors. There were two competitors who looked really good but I knew in my mind that the smaller and more symmetrical girl would win. Sure enough, she ended up placing first. Next came the novice class. There were a total of four novice competitors, one was a lightweight while the other three were heavyweights. It was obvious these guys were novice competitors because they were smooth and evidently miss the target. Next came the junior class which consisted of five competitors. Two were lightweights, two were middleweights and one was a heavyweight. These guys looked better but they were off the mark also. A big disappointment from the junior competitors at the 2001 Mr. GA.

Next came the men's over 35 class which had only three competitors. The only thing exciting about this class was that there was a super heavyweight competitor who weighed 245 lbs. He was just plain big! Next came the men's over 45 class which had only one competitor. No comment here. I just hope that I never compete when I'm over 45 years old. Next came the women's open division which had two lightweights, one middleweight and two heavyweights. I recognized one of the lightweight competitors from the SNBF shows. Laura Griffin, who also competed in the women's 35 and over division, won the SNBF nationals this past year. She came into the show lean but needs more muscle if she plans on winning an NPC show. When you're dealing with NPC, they tend to lean more towards size than conditioning. Although this may not be true in all cases, it's just what I have witnessed in my 2 years of attending shows and competing. Just as I expected, the overall winner of the women's open division was a heavyweight competitor who weighed 144 lbs. She had enough conditioning and more than enough size to take home the overall title. Let this be a lesson to anyone who tries to compete in an NPC event. If you have very good size and just enough conditioning, you will more than likely come away the winner.

Now it was time for the open men's division. There was one lightweight competitor so he obviously won his class. To me, I don't see how people get any joy in competing against no one and winning. Then again, I have always liked competition. Next came the middleweight class which had four competitors. This was the largest class and the competition was pretty close. Three of the competitors were between 173 and 176 lbs. However, the winner was evident because he had better conditioning and color than the other two guys. Next came the light heavyweight class which had only one competitor. Once again, a disappointing class because light heavyweights usually look really good. Next came the heavyweight class which consisted of two competitors. Once again, a drop in the caliber of competition. Next came the super heavyweight class which had three competitors. This class was probably the most impressive of all of the classes not because of their sheer size but because of their overall presentation. Out of the three competitors, two of them were large and had good conditioning. However, the victory went to George Turmon who weighed 248 pounds. He was big but you could definitely tell he was old. George won his class and the overall at the age of 43. Not too bad for over the hill, wouldn't you say?

After the awards were given out, the emcee proceeded to bring out the guest poser. They played some music but no guest poser had emerged. Then there was a pause and Welcome to Atlanta started playing. Then out of the curtains came Ronnie Coleman weighing 320 lbs. His first pose was a most muscular which he hit as soon as he walked up the steps onto the stage. The crowd was going crazy! All you could hear were chants of "Go Big Nasty!" Pose after pose, you could only stare in awe at how large that man really is. I mean, you see him in magazines all of the time but to actually stand next to him is something out of this world. I have never seen so much size on one man in my entire life! If you ever get the chance to see a pro guest pose, then I would suggest that you do it. Only then will you have a true understanding at how large these guys really are!