The contest was held in conjunction with the men's event, which was called the IFBB Pro World Championship.
In 1988, Jim Lorimer and Arnold Schwarzenegger felt the women's competition should become a regular event along with the men's.
That same year Tonya Knight had to forfeit both her placing and prize money from the 1988 and 1989 Ms. International when it was found out that she used someone else to take her drug test at the 1989 Ms. Olympia.
The judges relegated her to eighth place and did not, as custom, called out the top ten competitors on stage before announcing the winners.
Arnold, commenting about Yolanda, brought up her thigh and back development, the separation between her shoulders and arms and that she was very well proportioned.
The criteria given in Manion's letter included the statement "symmetry, presentation, separations, and muscularity BUT NOT TO THE EXTREME!
Due to the growth in attendance at the Arnold Sports Festival, the EXPO opened at the Greater Columbus Convention Center instead of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum.
He finished by stating that the loudest boos from the audience came came when Andrulla Blanchette was announced as 2nd in the lightweight class.
In Bill Dobbin's 2001 Ms. International - Contest Report, he commented that Ondrea attempted to conform as much as possible to the IFBB judging "guidelines" and this has severely compromised the quality of her physique since the 1999 Ms. Olympia.
He described the decision by the judges to award Ondrea the title over Iris as simply wrong and possibly politically motivated.
In Gene Hwang's 2001 Arnold Classic weekend report, he commented that the more muscular and ripped competitors were not rewarded by the judges during the first callouts of the symmetry round.
On February 20, 2002, she called Wayne that morning, prior to departing for Columbus, Ohio, to remind him to bring her 2000 Ms. Olympia gold medal to the 2002 Ms. International.
She was told she would not be allowed to complete at the 2002 Ms. International because she was required to use the IFBB assigned travel agent as a way to be reimbursed.
On February 22, 2002, that morning, she meet him in the hotel lobby and informed her that paying the fine was no longer an option because she could not come up with the money in the time to compete.
It read, “For aesthetics and health reasons, the IFBB Professional Division requests that female athletes in Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure decrease the amount of muscularity by a factor of 20%.
Bill described the lighting at prejudging as "best minimal" and described it as "bright enough to see the competitors but not particularly flattering nor revealing of physical detail", however he thought the lightening at the finals was better than previous years.
In a Muscle & Fitness article, written by the Flex Staff, commented that she was more mindful of the 20 percent rule and had "offered a slightly streamlined look, while maintaining her crispness and rock hard condition.
According to Juan Lopez, Iris, Yaxeni and Heather Armbrust where all "big girls and seemed to be decimating the decree of 20% muscularity reduction."
He stated that the final results showed the need to return the weight classes at all professional female bodybuilding contests.
Iris tied with Betty Viana-Adkins, who received 88 points in rounds 1 & 2, for 7th place due to bumps on her shoulders and glutes, which she later admitted were "noticeable site injections".
In a post-win interview with Dave Palumbo, Yaxeni said that she thought that while Iris should have been penalized for the bumps, she should have placed in the top six.
According to Kris Gethin, she stated that the fullness of Iris' muscle bellies and sheer size, without the need of her "trademark crazy condition".
[29] On March 4, 2010, the day before the 2010 Ms. International, Dave interviewed Iris, who stated she would be on stage this year at 163 lb (74 kg).
Talking about the prejudging, he stated that the contestants conditioning was not easy to assess due to the flat lighting on the main stage of the expo.
According to Ruth Silverman, she stated that the results show why smaller professional female bodybuilders might get discouraged as the top five, Iris, Yaxieni Oriquen-Garcia, Debi Laszewski, Lisa Aukland and Betty Pariso, were all "very big women".
In The Wennerstrom Report, Steve stated that virtually every muscle group on Iris' physique was chiseled and as finely tuned and detailed as a "Ferrari Testarossa".
[30][31][32][33][34] At the 2011 Ms. International, Iris won, despite being sick with a cold for two months prior to the contest, which resulted in her having to cut back slightly on exercising.
[36] At the 2013 Ms. International, she was dethroned by Iris for a fourth time, who won despite having the flu and, due to not resting, got a respiratory infection.
We are excited to create a professional competitive platform for some of the IFBB Pro League's most popular competitors.
"[38] On January 5, 2018, Beth Mandyck, a female bodybuilder, filed a sex discrimination lawsuit with the city of Columbus, Ohio over the IFBB canceling the Ms. International from the Arnold Sports Festival.