Today, close to 200,000 fitness buffs and fans will journey to Columbus, Ohio to attend the largest multi-sporting event in the USA, the Arnold Sports Festival 2011. There will be various competitions from bodybuilding, fencing, archery, even table tennis and arm wrestling. to mixed martial arts; 45 events, including 13 different Olympic sports. The event has grown over a 23 year history and FemaleMuscle.com has been covering the event for nearly 15 years.
The 2011 edition will feature a number of brand-new events including hockey, track & field and even a bikini competition, giving a sexy twist to the classic posing events. Other extreme events that made their debut last year that will be returning to the festivities include amateur MMA, amateur Strongman competitions and skateboarding – contests that give the Arnold a modern edge on other multi-sport festivals.
As one would imagine, the technical aspects of putting together an event of this size are staggering to say the least. Not months, but years of planning go into executing the Arnold Sports Festival every year, as Brent LaLonde, director of communications for the Arnold Sports Festival explains.
“It’s more than a 12-month process, we’re working year round,” he said. “Some planning and marketing things, some videos we’ll be shooting this weekend, will be used for advertising in 2012.”
LaLonde, who has been with the festival for six years, also points out Schwarzenegger’s heavy personal involvement in the execution of the festival, as well as his enthusiasm for all corners of the athletic world.
“Arnold arrives on Friday, and he personally attends all 45 events,” LaLonde said. “It all started in 1989 as just a men’s and women’s bodybuilding competition, but he said, ‘Let’s make this more than just bodybuilding, let’s open this up to other sports.'”
With this much continuous athletic action on display for three straight days, there are bound to be at least a few muscle-tearing, bone-splintering injuries, right?
That’s where Dr. Joseph Donovan, M. D. steps in. Donovan currently serves as the medical director of the Arnold Classic and has been involved with the festival since the early 1990s. He’s seen his share of traumatic afflictions and crippling injuries, an unfortunate but realistic consequence of any life spent striving for the sports glory.
“My team and I provide medical coverage for men’s and women’s bodybuilding, women’s fitness and figure competitions, professional strongmen, archery [and] hockey,” Donovan said. “I attend to various injuries, cases of dehydration, sprains, torn ligaments, broken bones, etc. We stabilize situations, then triage to hospitals if the situation warrants it.”
Donovan notes that the cheerleading competitions currently account for the Arnold’s highest injury rate, but also notes that many of the events, including newcomers such as hockey and track & field, carry their own inherent risk of injury. While no one attends the festival looking for blood, it would be nearly impossible to put this much of superhuman physicality on display and not spill a few drops occasionally.
For those not so inclined to the live feats of brutal fitness ability, attendees can visit the Art at the Arnold exhibit, a painting and drawing competition in which artists battle using only brush and pen. 2011 will also see the debut of the Arnold Sports Film Festival, which will feature submitted short films that, according to a festival press release, “explore the journey, perseverance and triumphs of individuals who participate in athletic expression and competition.”
Thanks to Schwarzenegger’s stature in the worlds of film and politics, the Arnold Sports Festival draws a number of sports-related celebrities each year, including Buckeye great, Eddie George, and former WWE Superstar Kurt Angle in 2011, and has been responsible for some of the most important and dramatic moments in sports history.
Donovan, who considers himself first and foremost a fan of the festival, understands the tremendous value the event holds, not just in Columbus, but in the entire health and fitness universe, and has been present for many of the Classic’s defining moments of greatness.
“There have been a lot of great memories, they all seem to run together,” Donanvan remembers. “In 2005 I got to meet [fitness legend] Jack LaLanne, he was a true American Icon. I stood with him backstage on the night he won the lifetime achievement award. We talked at length and he sent me an endeared picture from our meeting. He was the face of fitness in America for years, a true gentleman.”
“[Schwarzenegger] truly epitomizes the American Dream,” Donovan continues. “The fact that he and [business partner] Jim Lorimer did this on a handshake and have forged a 40-year friendship and business relationship is admirable. The fact that Arnold insists on the show being in Columbus [every year] is a testament to his loyalty.”
If for some reason you just can’t make it to this year’s festivities, Arnold’s historic legacy with our capital city guarantees one fact to be true – he’ll be back.