USA Set For July 25-26 in Las Vegas

Reported July 14, 2003

USA Set For July 25-26 in Las Vegas

Will Kris Dim, the 2002 USA Lightheavyweight champion, finally get that pro card that many people felt he deserved last year? Will first-timer Richard Jones, the Shawn Ray clone, rain on Dim’s parade? Will Alan Grimes, who finished only behind Overall champ Idrise Ward-El last year, hold off David (Jumbo) Palumbo in the Superheavyweight class?

Will Collete Nelson finally make her way to the IFBB after two consecutive wins in the Women’s Heavyweight class the past two seasons, or will Alley Miesch-Nie, second in the class at both the USA and Nationals, overturn her New York nemesis this time around? And what about Heather Lee Hulseburg, the 2002 Junior USA champion who was one of the favorites last year, only to miss the show due to injuries suffered in a car accident?

These are just some of many questions that will be answered at the 2003 version of the NPC USA Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships, being held July 25-26 at Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

In the Men’s Bodybuilding competition, the top two finishers in the Overall posedown will earn their pro cards; in the Women’s Bodybuilding portion of the show, the Overall winner moves on to the IFBB. The top two in all classes of the Fitness division get to move on to the pro ranks.

For a more in-depth look at the Jon Lindsay production, read the News and Views column in the August, 2003 issue of IRONMAN. Lindsay can be contacted at Musclecontest.com An in-depth pictorial of the event can be viewed soon after the final trophy is handed out on Saturday night. Be sure to check our contest gallery.

TEPER’S TALES: Shawn Ray, who asked for, and received, the special invite to compete in this year’s Mr. Olympia, has decided to turn down the offer. Ray, 37, who married Kristi Alvarado, 31, in April, says he wants to start a family and may look into the early season shows in 2004’Flex Wheeler, who retired from competition in March, has signed an endorsement contract with Max Muscle. Wheeler, who had lived in the Rowland Heights area of Los Angeles the past few years, moved with his wife Madeline, and their two children, to Northern California in June’Milos Sarcev, 39, who competed in more IFBB contests than anyone in history, also retired after entering this season’s Night of Champions’Chad Nicholls, the “Diet Doc” known for his nutritional guidance of many elite bodybuilder’s over the years, has added former World Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to his list of clients’Jay Cutler says he’ll enter the GNC Show of Strength, set for November 7-9 in Atlanta, Georgia. Ronnie Coleman, upset by Gunter Schlierkamp at the contest last year, will not be competing, according to sources’