| Arnold Sports Festival | |
| Country: | United States |
| Venue: | Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio |
| Tournament Format: | Multi-event competition |
| Champion: | Hadi Choopan |
| Champ Season: | 2024 |
The IFBB Pro Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (Arnold Classic), strongman (Arnold Strongman Classic), armlifting, fitness, figure, bikini and several others as a weekend expo. It was established in 1989 and is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. The main event is held annually around late February or early March in Columbus, Ohio, by the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Professional League (IFBB Pro League). It is considered the second-most-prestigious event in professional men's bodybuilding, physique, figure and bikini after Joe Weider's Olympia.When the Ms. International competition was hosted, until 2013, it was the second-most-prestigious event in professional female bodybuilding (after Ms. Olympia).
A lucrative sports competition, the ASF offers a number of large prizes. Most notably, first prize in bodybuilding consists of a $130,000 check, a Hummer vehicle, and an Audemars Piguet watch. Since the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding title pre-dates and offers higher prize money than the ASF, a rivalry in prestige and popularity has sprung up. The ASF is always hotly contested, often with one or two competition points separating the winners.
All-star cheerleading competitions span a two-day period (usually all day Saturday, and to midday Sunday). More than 4,000 competitors entered the cheerleading event in 2014. Each team (of 15–30 cheerleaders) prepares to perform a two and one-half minute routine. After the teams' routines are complete, they are scored by a panel of judges, each judge being an expert on one area of cheerleading (jumps, tumbling, stunting, etc.). Once scoring is complete, every team entered in the competition is called to the mat for awards, during which each team has a chance of winning multiple times. The ASF's awards consist of the following: National Champion jackets, trophies for every team, custom medals, limited edition patches and Grand Champion banners, and possible partial or full paid bid to Cheerleading World contests.[1]
On June 7, 2013, the ASF's event promoter, Jim Lorimer, announced that from 2014 on, the ASF's "212" (a professional, men's bodybuilding division) would permanently replace the Ms. International women's bodybuilding competition. Lorimer, in a statement, said "The Arnold Sports Festival was proud to support women's bodybuilding through the Ms. International for the past quarter century, but in keeping with demands of our fans, the time has come to introduce the Arnold Classic 212 beginning in 2014. We are excited to create a professional competitive platform for some of the IFBB Pro League's most popular competitors."[2]
On March 3, 2020 Ohio governor Mike DeWine cancelled most of the Arnold Sports Festival due to the oncoming COVID-19 pandemic in Ohio, before any cases or deaths had been reported. The cancellation was widely regarded as 'radical' at the time.[3] [4]
| Year | Arnold Classic | Ms. International | Fitness International | Figure International | Bikini International | 212 | Women's Physique | Men's Physique | Classic Physique | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Best Poser | Most Muscular | Fan's Choice Award | Most Entertaining Routine | Overall | Heavyweight | Lightweight | |||||||
| 1989 |  Rich Gaspari | Jackie Paisley | rowspan=29 colspan=2 align="center" | |||||||||||
| 1990 | Mike Ashley |  Laura Creavalle | ||||||||||||
| 1991 | Shawn Ray | Tonya Knight | ||||||||||||
| 1992 | Vince Taylor |  Anja Schreiner | ||||||||||||
| 1993 | Flex Wheeler | Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls | ||||||||||||
| 1994 | Kevin Levrone | Laura Creavalle | Carol Semple-Marzetta | |||||||||||
| 1995 | Mike Francois | |||||||||||||
| 1996 | Kevin Levrone | Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls |  Alexandra Béres | |||||||||||
| 1997 | Flex Wheeler | Yolanda Hughes-Heying | Carol Semple-Marzetta | |||||||||||
| 1998 | Susie Curry | |||||||||||||
| 1999 | Nasser El Sonbaty | Vickie Gates | ||||||||||||
| 2000 | Flex Wheeler | Vickie Gates | Brenda Raganot | Kelly Ryan | ||||||||||
| 2001 | Ronnie Coleman | Dayana Cadeau | Jenny Worth | |||||||||||
| 2002 | Jay Cutler | Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia | Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia |  Valentina Chepiga | Susie Curry | |||||||||
| 2003 | Cathy LeFrançois | Jenny Lynn | ||||||||||||
| 2004 | Iris Kyle | Iris Kyle | Dayana Cadeau | Adela Garcia-Friedmansky | ||||||||||
| 2005 | Dexter Jackson | Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia | Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia | Brenda Raganot | Jen Hendershott | |||||||||
| 2006 | Iris Kyle | Adela Garcia-Friedmansky | Mary Lado | |||||||||||
| 2007 |  Víctor Martínez | Kim Klein | ||||||||||||
| 2008 | Dexter Jackson | Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia | Gina Aliotti | |||||||||||
| 2009 | Kai Greene | Kai Greene | Branch Warren | Iris Kyle | Jen Hendershott |  Živilė Raudonienė | ||||||||
| 2010 | Adela Garcia-Friedmansky | Nicole Wilkins-Lee | ||||||||||||
| 2011 | Branch Warren | Dennis Wolf | Branch Warren | Nicole Nagrani | ||||||||||
| 2012 | Branch Warren |  Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia | Sonia Gonzales | |||||||||||
| 2013 | Dexter Jackson | Iris Kyle | Tanji Johnson | Candice Keene | India Paulino | |||||||||
| 2014 | Dennis Wolf | Oksana Grishina | Ashley Kaltwasser |  James Lewis | ||||||||||
| 2015 | Dexter Jackson | Camala Rodriguez-McClure | Jose Raymond |  Juliana Malacarne | Sadik Hadzovic | |||||||||
| 2016 | Kai Greene | Latorya Watts |  Hidetada Yamagishi | Autumn Swansen | Brandon Hendrickson | |||||||||
| 2017 | Cedric McMillan | Candice Lewis-Carter | Angelica Teixeira |  Ahmad Ashkanani | Daniely Castilho | Ryan Terry | ||||||||
| 2018[5] |  William Bonac | Fred Smalls | Roelly Winklaar | Whitney Jones |  Kamal Elgargni | Shanique Grant | Andre Ferguson | Breon Ansley | ||||||
| 2019[6] | Brandon Curry |  Joshua Lenartowicz | William Bonac | Ryall Graber | Cydney Gillon | Janet Layug | Natalia Abraham Coelho | George Peterson | ||||||
| 2020[7] | William Bonac | Dexter Jackson |  Mamdouh Elssbiay | Missy Truscott |  Natalia Soltero | Elisa Pecini | Alex Cambronero | |||||||
| 2021[8] | Nicholas Walker | Sergio Oliva Jr. | Nicholas Walker | Jennifer Dorie | Terrence Ruffin | |||||||||
| 2022[9] | Brandon Curry | Brandon Curry | William Bonac | Ariel Khadr | Cydney Gillon | Lauralie Chapados | Erin Banks | |||||||
| 2023[10] | Samson Dauda |  Andrew Jacked | Nick Walker | Ariel Khadr | Ramón Rocha Queiroz | |||||||||
| 2024[11] | Hadi Choopan | Samson Dauda | Rafael Brandão | Wesley Vissers |
Arnold Classic branding is also used for:
| Year | Europe[14] | South America[15] | Australia[16] | Africa[17] | Asia[18] | UK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Victor Martinez[19] | rowspan=9 align="center" | |||||
| 2012 |  Shawn Rhoden[20] | ||||||
| 2013 | Phil Heath[21] | Brandon Curry[22] | |||||
| 2014 | Dennis Wolf[23] | Steve Kuclo[24] | |||||
| 2015 | Dexter Jackson[25] | Mamdouh Elssbiay[26] | Dexter Jackson[27] | ||||
| 2016 | Dexter Jackson[28] | Kai Greene[29] | Kai Greene[30] | Dexter Jackson[31] | Justin Compton[32] | ||
| 2017 | Mamdouh Elssbiay[33] |  Lukas Osladil[34] | Brandon Curry[35] | Johnnie O. Jackson[36] | rowspan=3 align="center" | ||
| 2018 |  Michal Krizanek[37] | Marcelo da Cruz[38] | Roelly Winklaar[39] | Tomas Kaspar[40] | |||
| 2019 | Michal Krizanek[41] | Juan Morel[42] | William Bonac[43] | Michal Krizanek[44] | |||
| 2020 | colspan=6 align="center" | ||||||
| 2021 | Michal Krizanek[45] | Nathan De Asha[46] |