Eight-time Fitness Olympia Champion Adela Garcia was scheduled to end her retirement and return to competition at the 2020 Olympia in Orlando, Florida on the weekend of December 17 through December 20, 2020. However, she will no longer be in this year’s contest.
Garcia spoke with J.M. Manion on a video published on the NPC News Online YouTube channel on December 1st, which was actually her 49th birthday. She disclosed that while she was preparing her routine for the competition, she started dealing with pain in the biceps tendon on her right arm.
“What happened was I started practicing at home because I didn’t have any place to go. Gyms were closed, there wasn’t an aerobics room, not a cheer place to go, and then when I was finally able to go, I had started pushing hard. Now it’s time to go. I started having problems with my tendon, my biceps tendon.”
Garcia went on to say that she could power through and compete, but she reconsidered and ultimately made her decision to not compete.
“I am not going to embarrass myself, I’m not going to embarrass the IFBB (Pro League), and I’m not going to embarrass the Olympia.”
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Garcia made it a point to say that her body was ready and that she was in shape. Fitness competitions have comparison rounds as well as a stage routine that are judged. Garcia is known for doing explosive push-ups as a part of her routine, and she felt she couldn’t do those movements the way she should do them if she wanted to win.
“There is a series of pushups that I’m known for, that I do in my routine. If I can’t do those pushups the way that is better than I used to do them, I’m not going to step on that stage and do that on the Olympia stage.”
Manion stated that there would be a future video of Garcia posing to show how she looked at this point in her prep.
If Garcia would have stayed in the competition, she would have ended a seven-year retirement to return to the stage. Her last appearance was at the 2013 Olympia in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is where she won her eighth and final Olympia title.
Garcia was going to be one of three past champions competing in this year’s contest.
Four-time Fitness Olympia winner Oksana Grishina was also coming out of retirement to compete this year in Orlando. The current and defending champion is Whitney Jones, who is attempting to win her third straight championship. If she wins, she would be the fourth athlete to win three straight Fitness Olympia titles. Garcia, Grishina, and Susan Curry are the other three.
As a past Olympia champion, Garcia has lifetime qualification and can return to future competitions if she chooses. She is considering returning to the Olympia in 2021. She also stated she will be at the Olympia this year serving as an ambassador and to support the other athletes competing.
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