By Alicia Kelso
The Arnold Sports Festival begins March 4 with 44 sports and events – including 12 Olympic sports – being showcased throughout Columbus. About 18,000 athletes will compete at five venues – the Convention Center, Franklin County Veterans Memorial, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, Nationwide Arena and the Dispatch Ice Haus.
Additionally, the three-day Arnold Fitness EXPO features 700 fitness-related booths and ongoing stage entertainment.
The former Arnold Classic began in 1989, about 20 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger and Columbus resident Jim Lorimer originally met. Lorimer was vice president of government relations at Nationwide Insurance where he began a corporate fitness program inspired by his passion for bodybuilding.
“I had been putting on these events and was approached by a group of weightlifters and asked to do something similar for them. I ended up organizing the National Weight Lifting Championships in 1967 at Veterans Memorial. But I knew we had to add another dimension to the event to be successful and generate as much interest as possible, so we added Mr. America,” Lorimer says.
By 1970, the event turned into the World Weight Lifting Championships and Mr. Universe featuring the top six bodybuilders in the world, including a young Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger was so impressed by the event’s efficiency, he expressed interest to team up with Lorimer to continue something similar annually. The two made an agreement based on a handshake.
And now as the festival marks its 22nd year, it showcases more sports and athletes than ever, and awards more than $300,000 in prize money.
“The event began as a one-night professional bodybuilding competition. Almost every year, new events have been added,” says Kathryn Lorz, media representative for the festival.
After the event began growing in popularity, the Ms. International Professional Women’s Bodybuilding Contest was added to the schedule. In 1996, the Arnold Martial Arts Festival was added, and the Arnold Cheerleading Competition was added in 2000.
Since 2000, many more events have been added including arm wrestling, archery, table tennis, fencing and powerlifting.
“Today it is called the Arnold Sports Festival to more accurately describe the 40+ events. (There are) seven new events added this year – the largest number added in one year,” says Lorz.
New Events
Art isn’t the only new dynamic of this year’s Arnold Sports Festival.
New events include: the Arnold Figure Skating Exhibition, March 6 at the Dispatch Ice Haus; the Arnold Amateur Strongman, featuring 50 of the world’s top amateurs to compete separately from the professionals; a skateboarding competition; the Arnold Sports Photography workshop; Ohio Senior Olympics competitions added to the Active Living Festival; and the CrossFit multisport event that promotes overall physical fitness.
Aside from the new competitions, many of the Arnold Sports Festival participants are youth competing in archery, boxing, cheerleading and dance, dancesport, fencing, figure skating, gymnastics, martial arts, skateboarding, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. Top student athletes compete for one of nine $2,000 college scholarships presented by the Columbus Rotary and the Arnold Sports Festival.
The festival is also a proving ground for many aspiring athletes. Former Olympians and Olympic hopefuls will appear or compete in 12 Olympic Sports: archery, boxing, fencing, figure skating, gymnastics, judo, karate, running, table tennis, tae kwon do, weightlifting and wrestling.
Daily EXPO tickets are $10 and include access to more than 20 events.
Separate tickets are required for the following events: Amateur Fitness, Figure and Bikini,
Arnold Strength Training Summit, Amateur Bodybuilding prejudging, Amateur MMA, Ms. International, Fitness International and Figure International Finals, 22nd Annual Arnold Classic Prejudging and Finals, Cirque-Us Party With The Pros and Ask Arnold Fitness Training Seminar.
The $350 VIP package includes reserved seating for the Men’s and Women’s Professional IFBB Final events for Friday and Saturday evening, Men’s Prejudging Saturday afternoon, three EXPO tickets (one for each day), Ask Arnold Training Seminar, Amateur events on Thursday and Friday and Cirque-Us Party with the Pros.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com/arnold or 800-745-3000, or at the doors of all five festival venues. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.arnoldsportsfestival.com.