Ms. International

The first Ms. International was held in 1986, and was sanctioned by the International Federation of BodyBuilders (I.F.B.B.). The contest was held in conjunction with the men's event, which was called the IFBB Pro World Championship. Ben Weider proclaimed that the top six finishers would qualify for IFBB pro status, and be invited to compete at the 1986 IFBB Pro World in Toronto. The 1986 and 1988 Ms. Internationals were designated as pro-am contests, and top amateurs were also invited to compete. In 1987, Ms. International was an amateur event sanctioned by the AAU. In 1988, Jim Lorimer and Arnold Schwarzenegger felt the women's competition should become a regular event along with the men's.[8]

Since 1989, the men's Pro World Championship was renamed the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic and the Ms. International become part of The Arnold Classic Weekend. 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 first narrow victory came in 1991 when Tonya Knight topped Anja Schreiner by a score of 30 to 32.[8] There has been some controversy at the 1992 Ms. International. Anja Schreiner and Paula Bircumshaw both had the same body height, however, Paula had much more muscle and weight (162 lbs). The judges regulated her to eighth place and the judges did not, as custom, called out the top ten competitors on stage before announcing the winners. However this time, they only announced the top six competitors on stage in order to prevent Paula back on stage. The audience rioted over this decision and changed Paula's name. Paula did come back on stage only to give the judges the middle finger. Because of this, she was given a year's suspension. In 1996, Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls became the first to win both Ms. International and Ms. Olympia in the same year.

The 2000 contest saw the introduction of weight classes, with a posedown between the two class winners to decide the overall championship. In 2004, Iris Kyle won her first heavyweight and overall Ms. Intentional. In 2005, Iris skipped the Ms. International, and focused defending her Olympia title, allowing Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia to win.

The contest reverted to the single, open-class format in 2006. In 2006 and 2007, Iris won both Ms. Internationals. In 2007, the NPC Arnold Amateur was created as part of the Arnold Classic Weekend, which contained amateur women's bodybuilding. The Arnold Amateur Ms. International, unlike Arnold Classic Ms. International, contains weight classes. From 2007 to 2010 the Arnold Amateur Ms. International contained three weight classes, lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight. The overall winner of the Amateur Ms. International wins an IFBB pro card. In 2011, the middleweight was removed.

There was a bit of a controversy in the 2008 Ms. International. Iris was placed 7th due to "bumps" on her glutes which, according to head IFBB judge, Sandy Ranalli, were "distortions in her physique."[9] The second narrowest victory in Ms. International history came at the 2008 Ms. International, when Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia edged out runner-up Dayana Cadeau by the score of 30 to 32.[8] Iris Kyle rebounded at the 2009 Ms. International, which she won. Iris went on to win both the 2010 and 2011 Ms. International. Due to a leg injury, Iris could not compete in the 2012 Ms. International, which was won by Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia. In 2013, Iris Kyle won back her Ms. International title.

On June 7, 2013, event promoter of the Arnold Sports Festival, Jim Lorimer, announced that in 2014, the Arnold Classic 212 professional men's bodybuilding division would replace the Ms. International women's bodybuilding competition at the 2014 Arnold Sports Festival. 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."[10]

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. She has also started a change.org petition. Her complaint has been backed by Iris Kyle, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, former Olympic gold medalist and the CEO of Champion Women, an advocacy group for women in sports, and Women's Sports Foundation.[11]

Year	Champions		Posedown music	Prize money	Venue
1986	Erika Geisen		Twist My Arm by The Pointer Sisters		Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio, United States Franklin County Veterans Memorial, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
1988	Cathey Palyo
1989	Jackie Paisley 1
1990	Laura Creavalle		Push It by Salt-N-Pepa
1991	Tonya Knight
1992	Anja Schreiner
1993	Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls
1994	Laura Creavalle
1995
1996	Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls
1997	Yolanda Hughes-Heying		Large Outdoor Concert Crowd by Sound Ideas
1998
1999	Ondrea Gates		レモン by Jomen
2000	Ondrea Gates (heavyweight & overall)	Brenda Raganot (lightweight)
2001		Dayana Cadeau (lightweight)	Ongaphantsi by DJ Toxic Feat. Keey Smith (lightweight posedown) United by FarFunky (overall posedown)
2002	Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia (heavyweight & overall)	Valentina Chepiga (lightweight)	A Series Of Moments by 8 Degrees
2003		Catherine LeFrançois (lightweight)
2004	Iris Kyle (heavyweight & overall)	Dayana Cadeau (lightweight)	Family System by Chevelle (lightweight and heavyweight posedowns) Open Your Eyes (Amended) by Staind (overall posedown)
2005	Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia (heavyweight & overall)	Brenda Raganot (lightweight)
2006	Iris Kyle		A Series Of Moments by 8 Degrees
2007			Superbeast by Rob Zombie
2008	Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia
2009	Iris Kyle		Good Friends And A Bottle Of Pills by Pantera
2010			Thorn In My Side by Exodus
2011
2012	Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia		Let Me Hear You Scream by Ozzy Osbourne
2013	Iris Kyle		100,000 Strong (Instrumental) by Hirax

Notes:

• ¹ Tonya Knight had to forfeit both her placing and prize money when it was found out she had used someone else to take her drug test at the 1988 Ms. Olympia.