Joanna Thomas
Joanna Thomas | ||||||||||||||||||
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IFBB Jan Tana Classic | ||||||||||||||||||
Best win |
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Predecessor | Renee Casella[1] | |||||||||||||||||
Successor | Fannie Barrios[1] | |||||||||||||||||
Active | 2001–2007 | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Joanna Clare Dawson Thomas (briefly Joanna Schwartz) (12 December 1976 – 26 April 2020) was a
Early life
Joanna Thomas was born on 12 December 1976, in
Bodybuilding career
Amateur
As a child Joanna had chronic asthma and was unable to do any sort of strenuous physical activities at a young age, but had always wanted a bigger build for her body. When she was 14 years old, she saw for the first time pictures of female bodybuilders in a magazine that belonged to a college student who was staying with her family. She in love with the way they looked and decided to become a professional bodybuilder, along with and wanting something to keep fit herself hit due to her asthma. Her sister, Nicola, who had been a sprinter, started bodybuilding.[10][11]
Three months later, at 107 lb (8 st; 49 kg), Joanna worked up the courage to go to a local gym and told the owner she wanted to build muscle. The gym owner's wife dismissed her goal of building muscle by saying it should be left to the men, however, her husband began to train her. She started bodybuilding and lifting weights at 15 years old and soon discovered she had great
In 1993, Joanna graduated from the Camborne Science and International Academy. By the time she was 17 years old, she was bodybuilding seriously and began "obsessive weight training". She ate more, spent all her spare money on supplements and trained "like a robot." She started diploma in business and dropped out. She than did 18 months of nursing at Cornwall College Camborne. At the 1996 English Federation of Bodybuilders (EFBB) British Championships, her sister Nicola, who had only qualified 2 weeks prior, got second place in the lightweight category. Joanna started to get heavily into prescription drugs and other illegal drugs before she turned 20.[10][12][11][8][5]
In 1997, at the age of 20 years old, Joanna won the middleweight category her first bodybuilding contest, the 1997 EFBB Northeast Qualifier, which qualified for the British Championships. At the 1997 EFBB British Championships, she competed alongside Nicola in the lightweight division. Joanna placed third in the lightweights, while Nicola, who had only been bodybuilding for 6 years, won the lightweight and overall title, becoming the first lightweight to win the British Championships overall title, which earned her an IFBB Pro card at the age of 23 years old. She never competed as a professional and retired from bodybuilding a year later.[10][8][11]
In 1998, Joanna she moved to Manchester to being train at Betta Bodies, one of England's top hardcore gyms, and began taking
Professional
Joanna spent the next 2 years, including completing 2 years of nursing school and eventually stopped going to school in order concentrate on her bodybuilding career, in Manchester making a living as a
Before attending the Olympia, Steve Wennerstrom, IFBB women's historian and a friend of Joanna, invited her to stay in his place in
After the 2001 Ms. Olympia, Joanna relocated her home from Manchester to Fort Lauderdale in order to live with her American boyfriend, Miles, to train, work for a friends personal training company called Unique Physique and work on her website. In 2002, she took the year off from competing and launched her website. At the 2003 Jan Tana Classic, she placed 2nd in the lightweight category. She said she didn't prepare quite long enough to achieve the condition she was after at the 2003 Jan Tana Classic. In May 2004, she moved to Marina del Rey, Los Angeles to train. In June 2004, she began training with professional bodybuilder Charles Glass and Chad Nicholls for the 2004 GNC Show of Strength.[14][10][7][15][16][9]
At the 2004 GNC Show of Strength, Joanna got 2nd place in the lightweight category, which qualified her for the Ms. Olympia. At the 2004 Ms. Olympia, she was the youngest contestant competing and got 7th place in the lightweight category. According to a 2004 Ms. Olympia judge, Steve Weinberger, he told her that her lower body does not match her upper body so she is not symmetrical and that's why she is placed at 7th. She was injured in a car crash and started taking strong pain relief medication that was not available in the United Kingdom. In 2005, the television documentary Supersize She aired. The documentary covered her childhood, modeling for her website and her training and competing at the 2004 GNC Show of Strength and 2004 Ms. Olympia. Also in 2005, she moved back to Fort Lauderdale. After a 2 year break from competing, she attended the 2007 Atlantic City Pro, where she got 4th place in the lightweight category. Afterwards, she wasn't happy with the results from the Atlantic City Pro and retired from professional bodybuilding.[8][17][18][9]
After 2 years in retirement, in July 2010, at the 2010 NPC Southern States Championships, Joanna, interviewed by
Legacy
At the 1998 EFBB British Championships, Joanna won the lightweight category and overall title and became the youngest
At the 2006 UKBFF British Championships, Michelle Jones won the middleweight and overall title, which broke Joanna's record as the youngest female bodybuilder to win the UKBFF British Championships as Michelle was eight months younger than her when Joanna won the British Championships in 1998. However, in 2005 the UKBFF had changed the rules of the British Championships so that while the men's winner would continue to get an automatic IFBB pro card, the women's winner would not. Thus Joanna retained her record as youngest British female bodybuilder to ever to win her IFBB pro card. Her record remains unbroke to this day. She is one of the most famous Cornish female bodybuilders ever due to her exposure in he documentary Supersize She.[22][9]
Competition history
- 1997 EFBB Northeast Qualifier - 1st (MW)
- 1997 EFBB British Championships - 3rd (LW)
- 1998 EFBB Northwest Qualifier - 1st (MW)
- 1998 EFBB British Championships - 1st (LW and overall)
- 2001 IFBBJan Tana Classic - 1st (LW)
- 2001 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 10th (LW)
- 2003 IFBB Jan Tana Classic - 2nd (LW)
- 2004 IFBB GNC Show of Strength - 2nd (LW)
- 2004 IFBB IFBB Ms. Olympia- 7th (LW)
- 2007 IFBB Atlantic City Pro - 4th (LW)[17][3][13]
Best statistics
- Biceps - 16+1⁄2 in (42 cm)[23][24]
- Bodyfat - 2.6–6%[25]
- Calves - 17 in (43 cm)[23]
- Chest - 39 in (99 cm)[26]
- Height - 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)[24]
- On season weight - 114–135 lb (8–10 st; 52–61 kg)[24][23][27][28][29]
- Quads - 25 in (64 cm)[23]
- Thighs - 24 in (61 cm)[24]
Death
In April 2020 Thomas was found dead in her flat in Camborne, Cornwall by a police officer conducting a wellness check.[8][5] A note was later found in her apartment by her mother which said if she was found dead "it would have been an accident".[5] In November 2020, her GP surgery found that she had used steroids and anabolic steroids in her bodybuilding career, as well as illegal drugs and prescribed medication.[8] Her cause of death was listed as multiple drug toxicity.[5]
Her funeral was held on 14 May 2020 at the Treswithian Down Crematorium in Camborne and was cremated. The service was conducted by Church of England Revd. Roosheen Browning.[30]
Personal life
After retiring from bodybuilding in 2007, Joanna married American Andrew Schwartz and they both moved to the United Kingdom in 2014, but he could not get a work permit and returned to the United States. Afterwards, they divorced and he later died. She was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. She was a Christian and had a Bible in which she wrote in and highlighted passages.[5][8]
Television
Supersize She
In 2005, Thomas was featured in a one-hour documentary on the British channel
Film appearance
In 2006, Thomas starred in the short comedy film, All's Swell That Ends Swell!, where she played the Beautician.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "About Me". joannathomas.com. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
- ^ a b Joanna Thomas
- ^ a b c "Joanna Thomas - AMG Lite version 3.3". amg-lite.net. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ "FLASH REPORT". billdobbins.com. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Beamish, Sam (2020-11-09). "Cornish bodybuilder and adult star died in her home aged 43". CornwallLive. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ a b southern states bodybuilding interviews Bodybuilder diet - "Bodybuilding Motivation"
- ^ a b c British Steele - Joanna Thomas Interview
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Irving, Nick (2020-11-09). "Brit bodybuilding porn star died from drug cocktail taken to ease pain of career". mirror. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
- ^ a b c d Supersize She
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Joanna Thomas - 2001 Jan Tana Winner". joannathomas.com. 2003-02-06. Archived from the original on 2003-02-06. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ a b c 1996 EFBB BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS (DOWNLOAD)
- ^ Joanna Thomas Facebook Work and education
- ^ a b "Thomas, Joanna". www.musclememory.com. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ FEMALE MUSCLE – 2004 OLYMPIA (DVD)
- ^ Critical Bench Female Bodybuilder Joanna Thomas Tribute
- ^ Joanna Thomas
- ^ a b "Contest History". joannathomas.com. 2009-07-25. Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ Joanna Thomas
- ^ "Sarasota and catching up". joannathomas.com. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ^ "Back In Action!". joannathomas.com. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ^ "My First Workout in 3 Years!". joannathomas.com. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ^ "Michelle Jones". genex. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
- ^ a b c d 4lb gain biggest ever and travel
- ^ a b c d Joanna Thomas wb270
- ^ More About Me
- ^ JOANNA THOMAS Muscle Pinups
- ^ THE IFBB JAN TANA CLASSIC 2003
- ^ 2004 GNC Show of Strength
- ^ Muscle and memory lane
- ^ a b c Farrell, Paul (2020-07-15). "Bodybuilder & Adult Actress Joanna Thomas Dies at 43". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2023-01-14.