Anja Schreiner

Anja Schreiner is a professional female bodybuilder from Germany.[1]

Anja Schreiner[1]
Bodybuilder
Personal info
NicknameThe Angel
Born1967
Germany
Professional career
Pro-debut
  • IFBB Pro World Championship[1]
  • 1989[1]
Best win
PredecessorTonya Knight[1]
SuccessorKim Chizevsky-Nicholls[1]
ActiveRetired 1992

Bodybuilding career

Amateur

She began lifting weights to combat scoliosis in her adolescence.

Professional

Anja won a narrow victory at the 1991 Ms. International, when she topped Tonya Knight by a score of 30 to 32. It was the most narrow victory at the time at the Ms. International.[2]

By 1992, the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness, led by Ben Weider, had created a series of "femininity" rules; one line in the judging rules said that competitors should not be "too big." Since extreme size generally requires extreme AAS usage, with more women gaining more androgenic (masculine) side effects, this was clearly an attempt to retain a higher level of female aesthetics and maintain the standard. The judges’ guide to the competitors in the 1992 Ms. International contest stated that they were looking for a highly feminine and optimally developed, but not emaciated physique. The contest winner was Anja, who then had a symmetrical physique and weighed 130 pounds at 5'7". The announcement of her victory met with so much booing from those who preferred size over aesthetics that Arnold Schwarzenegger had to step on stage to address the audience, saying "the hell with the judges". Many observers felt that the IFBB had instructed the judges to select the most marketable aesthetic physique, not the most muscular. British competitor Paula Bircumshaw was the same height as Anja and possessed a similar level of symmetry and definition, but carried significantly more muscle, weighing in at 162 pounds. She was the clear audience favorite, but was relegated to eighth place. Normally, the top ten contestants are called out at the end of the show when the winners are announced, but the judges only called back the top six, hoping to keep Paula backstage. This resulted in an uproar from the crowd. With the audience chanting her name, Paula returned to the stage along with the top six competitors.

Advertising in Muscle & Fitness for the 1992 Ms. Olympia featured Anja prominently, relegating two-time defending champion Lenda Murray to a small "also competing" notice. Nevertheless, Lenda also apparently met the "femininity" requirements, and managed to retain her title; Anja finished sixth, and promptly retired from competition.

Legacy

Currently she is the most successful German bodybuilder of all time.[1]

Contest history

References
  1. Anja Schreiner
  2. "The Ms. International" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 27, 2014.
Ms. International
Preceded by:
Tonya Knight		 First (1992) Succeeded by:
Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls
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