Restoring the body beautiful

The sport of Body Building is poised for a comeback

If the sport of Body Building is selected as one of the sports for the next South Pacific Games to be held in Noumea in 2011, the Cook Islands will be prepared thanks to the will and determination of a dedicated few with one purpose in mind which is to restore the sport locally, to its former glory.
At an AGM held on Wednesday evening 2 December 2009 at the CISNOC office, a new executive was elected to take the sport forwards.
Patron: Tony Hole.
President: George George.
Vice President: Casper Mateariki.
Treasurer: Charles Carlson.
Secretary: Robert Graham.
Executive officers
Johnny Hosking-responsible for development on Rarotonga
Maara Tetava-responsible for outer island development
Joe Ringo (a qualified Judge)-responsible for overseas development.
The Herald spoke with Tony Hole last week about the history of the Cook Islands Body Building Association.
Tony related how he was responsible for formally establishing the sport in the Cook Islands with the formation of the Cook Islands Body Building Association (CIBBA) in 1980. It followed the opening of the first public gym in Rarotonga by Tony in November 1979. He set this up in the old pearl shell shed behind Island Merchants.
In 1980 the fledgling CIBBA was affiliated to the International Federations of Body Builders (IFBB) and also the Cook Islands Sports Association, the fore runner of CISNOC. The first National Championships were held in 1980 and Makaro Katu became the first overall winner of the title “Mr Cook Islands.”
In 1981, Makaro Katu took part in the “Pan Pacific Championships” held in Auckland and was placed 3rd.
In 1985 CIBBA held a contest on Rarotonga. Prizes were handed out by the Miss Cook Islands at the time, Atina Sawtell (see photo).
In 1987 the Cook Islands hosted the first IFBB Oceania Body Building Championships held outside of Australia. The Cook Islands did well gaining a 1st and 2nd in the team posing section. Nga Maungaati took 1st place in the individual posing section. In the weight classes, the Cook Islands gained two 2nd placings and two 3rd placings.
In 1988 the CIBBA took part in their first IFBB World Championships held in Australia.
In 1989 the Top Shape commercial gym opened in March. The Rarotonga Champs were held for the first time and the CIBBA National Championships were held in Mangaia.
In 1990, the CIBBA took part in the World Championships held in Malaysia.
In 1993, the Cook Islands hosted the first South Pacific Championships in Rarotonga. We won the silver medal in the team posing section and two bronze medals went to Felix Enoka and Aaron Enoka.
In 1995, Body Building was on the South Pacific Games programme for the first time in Tahiti thanks to the efforts of CIBBA’s promotion in the region and backing from CISOA.
In 1996, CIBBA took part in the South Pacific Championships held in the Norfolk Islands. Felix Enoka won gold in the Masters Class and silver in his weight class. Toru Miri won a silver medal in the Light Heavyweight Class.
In 1998, the late Felix Enoka took part in his last International contest in Tahiti, for a silver medal in the Master Class at the South Pacific Championship.
In 2003 Toru Miri and Teinaki qualified for the team to the South Pacific Games in Fiji after being ranked fourth in the South Pacific.
At this juncture there is a gap in Tony’s records.
In 2007 The Cook Islands took part in the South Pacific games held in Samoa where Rasmussen won a gold medal.
In the 2009 Pacific Mini-Games held in Rarotonga, Body Building was one of the sports selected initially but CISNOC replaced it with Tennis.
New President George George told the Herald last week, the new executive will be tasked with building the Association virtually from scratch. The Association has no funds and eventually will be considering regional and international affiliations. The Association has a Constitution.
Tony says since 1980, the Association has remained affiliated to the IFBB which was established in 1946 by Americans Ben and Joe Weider. Tony advises he is still the IBFF representative for the Cook Islands being recently informed of this by the new IBFF President. Tony wishes to see the close relationship built up with the IBFF retained as it guarantees entry into world championship events.
The IFBB is the sixth largest international sports federation in the world with 183 member countries in 2008. Its headquarters is in Madrid, Spain. In 1981 the IFBB was a founding member of the World Games and the International World Games Association. If the sport enters the Commonwealth or Olympic Games then membership of IFBB will be essential says Tony.
The last world congress of the IFBB was in 2006, in Prague, the Czech Republic.
By extraordinary coincidence regarding surnames, the IFBB General Secretary is Bill Tierney and the Vice President for the South Pacific is Paul Graham.

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