Striving for No. 1
CENTER TWP — Being rated No. 6 in the world at what you do is pretty good.
For Theresa Ivancik, it's not good enough.
Ivancik, 36, of Center Township placed sixth at the Rising Phoenix Bodybuilding World Championships last month. She qualified for that event by winning the national pro show in Norfolk, Va., in July.
“The best in the world were competing there,” Ivancik said of Phoenix. “Canada, Switzerland, Italy ... They came from all over.
“I received a Best Poser Award, too. It was a rewarding experience.”
But not the best experience.
That may be coming in 2020, as the Ms. Olympia world championship is returning to Las Vegas after a six-year absence.
“That's the Super Bowl of our sport,” Ivancik said. “Something has been missing from female bodybuilding since they stopped having the Ms. Olympia.
“You tell somebody you just won a world tournament and it's like, wow, good for you. You tell somebody you just won Ms. Olympia ... People have heard of that.”
Ivancik first began competing as a bodybuilder in the figure division in 2006. She joined the bodybuilding division in 2010 and won her pro card in 2016.
“A lot more goes into this than people realize,”said Jeff Harlan, Ivancik's fiance and a trainer/bodybuilder himself. “You can have the best body in the world, but if you don't know how to pose it, it will look like crap in a competition.
“Theresa worked with Gary Udit (chairman of the National Physique Committee) and he showed her how to emphasize her hamstrings and glutes. He improved her posing immensely.”
Harlan proposed to Ivancik at the Norfolk show this past summer.
“I found out she won that show before she did,” he recalled. “I was backstage when they told me she'd be going back out (on stage) because she won.
“There were maybe 500 people there when I proposed. We had a full audience. She won the thing and we got engaged, so it all worked out.”No wedding date has been set yet, but Ivancik has a few other dates circled on the calendar for 2020. She needs to win another national pro show to qualify for Ms. Olympia later in the year.“After the world championships are held, you basically start over again,” Ivancik said. “I'm looking at the pro show in Chicago in July of next year. That's what I'm training and preparing for now.”If she doesn't win there, shge will have other opportunities.The 2020 national show in Norfolk is a couple of weeks after Chicago. There's another show slated for Tampa, Fla., a few weeks after that.“I'll keep trying if I have to,” Ivancik said of entering shows. “Obviously, win the first one and you're in. It takes the pressure off.“You're judged in a lot of areas at a competition — balance, symetry, conditioning, etc. — it's the whole package. You have to be spot on.”NPC is the main sponsor for the Ms. Olympia in 2020, which carries a first-place prize of $50,000 and a new car for the winner.“You learn to control your muscles mentally. That's the key to posing,” Harlan said. “Theresa is there right now. She proved this year that she's a world contender.”“Winning Ms. Olympia is the goal,” Ivancik declared. “You can't go any farther than that. It's the top of the mountain.”
