She’s Ba-a-a-ck!

In my comments regarding the New York Pro Figure the other day (immediately below this entry), I left out the number-one reason that figure athletes are like bodybuilders: They never really retire. The point has now been made by today’s press release from Fitness Management Group that Davana Medina, who won the first three Figure Olympia titles and then hung up her posing suit, is coming back to competition. Specifically, the 5’7” Real Diva of New Jersey will make her return in a week and a half at the ’10 Europa Battle of Champions—in the pro bikini event.

Am I shocked? Pl-e-e-ase. Even if Medina and her people hadn’t been dropping hints for the past year or so, it wouldn’t have been surprising because of the never-retiring principle mentioned above. Also because she hung it up before her body had even begun to quit. I’m also not surprised that the 36-year-old is choosing bikini, although it’s kind of too bad. It would have been interesting to see someone with Davana’s structure and a little more muscle than Nicole Wilkins-Lee give the latter a real run for her money at the Figure Olympia.

Instead, Davana has been shedding muscle, but will it be enough? In bikini, having a killer body is only the beginning, and even in figure now the moves have gotten sassier. So the real question is, Does Davana have the stuff? As in sass, as in attitude, as in the ability to sell it on the runway just short of working a pole? Recently, I had a conversation with celebrated trainer Kim Oddo about the challenges (and fun) of helping bikini competitors bring out the sass. It really is different from figure prep. Fortunately for Davana, she’s chosen to work one of the physique world’s hottest movers and booty shakers, multi-time Fitness Olympia and Fitness International champ Adela Garcia. If anyone can help Medina pull out all the stops onstage it’s top chica Adela. That ought to give those Florida and California girls who have dominated pro bikini so far something to think about.

Notes: Adela’s training program is called O.F.F.—Overcome Fitness Fears; for info go to www.offchallenge.com. Davana is available for appearances, endorsements, interviews and modeling, contact FMG at [email protected]

Photo: Davana Medina and Fitness Management Group’s J.M. Manion in April 2009. At that time the word was she was not planning on coming back. Never say never.