Arnold Schwarzenegger brings classic to Africa
The multi-sport festival also includes a three-day health and fitness trade expo
One of the world’s most inclusive and popular sports festivals will touch down in South Africa for the first time when bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger hosts the inaugural Arnold Classic Africa at Sandton Convention Centre from May 27-29.
The African event, held in partnership with the Gauteng provincial government and the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), will form the latest leg of the Arnold Sports Festival, adding to established spectacles in the United States, Australia, Europe, and South America.
Hosting professional and amateur athletes from across South Africa and around the world, half of whom are expected to be youths, the three-day festival will involve 47 sports and events.
“We invite people of all ages to join us in celebrating amateur and professional sport, as we promote health and fitness. These events have proved successful around the world and we expect the Arnold Classic Africa to be no different,” says Wayne Price, Arnold Classic Africa partner.
While it includes traditional disciplines such as acrobatic gymnastics, archery, badminton, baseball, beach volleyball, fencing, weightlifting and wrestling, there is a twist to the event which also showcases lesser known codes such as cross fit, dance sport, ringball, pole fitness and rope skipping.
With Schwarzenegger having founded the global series, the inaugural Arnold Classic Africa also hosts a number of strength-based contests, including amateur bodybuilding, arm wrestling, powerlifting, weightlifting and a strongman competition.
The pro bodybuilding contest will offer a R1.5 million total prize purse in the men’s open and women’s fitness divisions, giving local stars a rare opportunity to compete at the highest level on home soil. The pro strongman competition, which will host some popular international personalities, will offer a prize purse of R800 000.
Other activities that will be on display include the Arnold Classic Model Search, Pole Fitness, Teen Challenge, Art, African Performers and African Crafts and a special show case with Arnold.
The multi-sport festival also includes a three-day health and fitness trade expo.
The Arnold Classic was first launched in the US as a professional bodybuilding competition in 1989 but has since expanded to create an international series of multi-sport festivals, driven by Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, who is renowned as a seven-time Mr Olympia, Hollywood star and former Governor of California.
