WORLD BODY BUILDING FEDERATION (WBBF)

[ILMAR]

Today we received a letter from Australia.
Australians are interested in the history of WFF-WBBF:

Hi there
I have competed many times since 2004 in the WFF universe in germany run by Klauss Hoffman, and in Australia by Graeme Lancefeild, Can you please explain to me this situation where there are two separate WFFs ? i am confused by this and would appreciate your take on this
Kind Regards,
Wayne Wilson
Mobile: 0412 654 004
www.waynewilson.com.au

The answer is very plain:

Historic „Amber Prix International“
WFF (World Fitness Federation)

BEFORE THE START
„Amber Prix International“ – one of the oldest traditional still running International Bodybuilding and Fitness Contests World Wide (1968-2008).
The long lasting History of the „Amber Prix International“ is directly connected with the History of the WFF (World Fitness Federation).
It were the Ideas of the „Amber Prix International“ that became the fundament of the activities of the WFF: the esthetic beauty of the human body, that is expressed through the dynamic movement.
At first the „Amber Prix International“ was an Bodybuilding Contest only. Today it unites many popular contemporary directions of sport: „Fit-Kids“, Fitness Models, Disabled Sports, Fitness Aerobics, Classic Fitness and Bodybuilding.
There were many revolutionary happenings in the middle of the 20-th Century: the Man reached the bottom of the Ocean, the Man was in Cosmos, the Man flew around the Planet...
The same process was in Sport too. Due to the progress achieved by the Mankind, sport results and records jumped so high, that even the Olympic records of the Past seem to be very small comparing with today.
Technical progress and innovations influenced the sphere of development of a human body too. Existing from the ancient times power strong men sport today became one of the most popular World‘s Bodybuilding and Fitness sports.
The World was in the process of big changes and people wanted to change the Human Body. Developing the power, endurance and muscles people wanted to learn the Limit of the Human possibilities to reach the Top.
The quickly growing popularity of Bodybuilding and Fitness involved many intelligent people in the movement: artists, sculpturers, poets, drama writers, ballet actors, photographs and scientists. The Great Names of the „Amber Prix International“ Champions conform this!
First Bodybuilders were not so muscular as today. Their priority aims was the Esthetic Beauty, not hard raw muscles.

THE BEGINNING
The History of Bodybuilding and Fitness lasts very long. Ancient times, Middle Ages...
The real sport face of Bodybuilding and Fitness appeared at the end of the 19-th Century.
Then in 1898 the first contests of the body demonstration were held in England and Russia. Among the first famous bodybuilding pioneers were EUGENE SANDOW (England), VLADISLAV KRAJEVSKIJ (Russia), GEORGE HACKENSCHMIDT (Estonia), and KLEMENS BULL (Latvia). Then in 1898 the first Bodybuilding and Fitness Magazines were published in England and Russia... By the way the World‘s oldest British Bodybuilding Magazine „Health and Strength“ (started in 1898) is still alive.
We state that Women Sport Fitness started in the United States of America (New York). 1928 stories and pictures of the emigrant from Lithuania BRONE DUBAR prove it: developing her body with the regular exercises she demonstrated her perfect body in public.
In 2008 Sport World celebrates a number of great dates:
• 110 years of Bodybuilding Sport
• 80 years of Fitness
• 40 years of the „Amber Prix International“.
The 20-th century was the period when the World was divided in to two parts:
capitalist and Communist, in to "East" and "West".
The "Iron Wall" separated both parts giving no possibility to communicate, giving no possibility to exchange the information.
Each side knew very little about another.
The Western World developed Bodybuilding, the Eastern World developed
Fitness (then it was called "Athletic Gymnastic").
Each of them went their own way.
Ideas propagated by the WFF today started long ago with the first "Amber Prix
International" Championships (1967).

SOCIALIST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
From 1966 until the middle of eighties only private commercial IFBB (International Federation of Body Builders) Company was organizing World Championships. In Britain the annual „Universe“ Contests were organized by the English Public Club named NABBA UK (National Amateur Body Building Association).
In 1967 having no possibility to participate in the IFBB World Championships socialist fitness enthusiasts decided to organize their own World Championships. They named the event "Amber Prix International" as there was no chance to call it "World Championship". Soviet ideology had a very strict point of view on
such things and never let them happen.
The first "Amber Prix International" was organized in 1968 (Palanga, Lithuania).
From this year the best athletes of the "East" participated in the event
regularly.
In reality only the Republics of the Soviet Union (15 Countries) and World
Socialist Countries participated in the "Amber Prix International". So the „Western World“ had their own World Championships and the „Eastern World“ their too.
Many times the organizers invited the representatives of the "West" to
participate in the Eastern "Amber Prix International", but they had no
possibilities to cross the Soviet Border of iron.
As we have mentioned before, at that time the leaders of the "West" Bodybuilding were IFBB and NABBA . Both IFBB and NABBA organized contests no better than the ones organized in the Socialist World. Even now many of us remember the numerous "Amber Prix International" Categories representing a lot of countries. 1989 "Amber Prix International" collected nearly two hundred athletes representing 51 team! There were over 50 competitors in the Categories! Even today many of International Sport Organizations collect only 10 - 15 countries in their World or Continental Championships.
In the seventies Bodybuilding was prohibited in the Soviet Countries. The
contests were stopped for some years, especially big International ones.
Nevertheless of the prohibition of Bodybuilding in 1977 Edmundas Daubaras
had courage to go on organizing the annual "Amber Prix International" again. For
many years "Amber Prix International" remained the only one big regular International Contest of the "East".
There was a constant working International Executive Committee around the
"Amber Prix International": VLADIMIR SUBOV, ARKADIJ KASANSKIJ (Russia), INNAR MARDO (Estonia), FELIKS SAJKOVSKIJ (Latvia), SPARTAK VASKOVSKIJ and VASILIJ BESPALENKO (Ukraine), VALERIJ BOGDANOVIC and VLADIMIR ALEKSANDROVIC (Belorussia), VLADIMIR KOUBRE (Kazakhstan), and a number of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Kyrgyz Officials.
Sometimes the results of the "Amber Prix International" contest were published in newspapers and magazines. This made the "Amber Prix International" even more
popular. Occasionally Weider brothers published "Amber Prix International" materials in their private magazines as well.
When „perestroika“ came, evaluating high level and International importance of the „Amber Prix International“ the USSR Ministry of Sports (Goskomsport) started to give the Honorable Sport Master degrees to the „Amber Prix International“ Champions.
Finally that was the Winn of Sport against politics!

INTERNATIONAL WORK
Having no possibilities to pass the „Iron Wall“ and to communicate with the „West“, Bodybuilding leaders of the Socialist World were looking for the way out. From 1973 they did their best communicating with the Socialist Countries.
Led by EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania) the International Executive Committee of the "Amber Prix International" worked together with Czechoslovakia (LUDEK NOSEK, MILAN PERDOCH, VIJTECH FIALA, IVAN MACH, JOSEF MAZAK, STANISLAV PESAT), Poland (Ludowe Zespoly Sportowe), East Germany (PETER BUTZE, OTTO RUDIGER, PETER BAJEROWICH, WINFRED BASTA, JURGEN MADAJ), Hungary (FERENC FEKETE, ISTVAN BITTER, VYTAUTAS GRINIUS), Romania (VLADISLAV SCEKELY, VASILE BELBE), Yugoslavia and Bulgaria (ATANAS DZANAJEV, ZDRAVKO JORDANOV PETROV) and China.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
The International Executive Committee of "Amber Prix International"
performed a constant and serious work. Juridical by Law it was the unregistered
International Sport Organization (in the Soviet times there were no chance
to register an International Unit).

NOTE:
Today we state the fact: only WFF (World Fitness Federation) and WBBF (World Body Building Federation) are registered officially as International Non Profit Public Bodybuilding and Fitness Federations.
At the same tome most of contemporary International Bodybuilding and Fitness Federations still are not registered and work unofficially. Some of them are private properties belonging to 1-2 private persons (IFBB, today‘s WABBA etc.).

Going on with the annual "Amber Prix International" Eastern Countries were
in touch with the "West". During many years EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS communicated
with the leaders of the three basic International Bodybuilding
Organizations: BEN WEIDER (IFBB President), OSCAR HEIDENSTAM (NABBA
President), SERGE NUBRET (WABBA President). All of them were interested in
what is going on in the Eastern Countries as well as the "East" was
interested in what is going on in the Western World. The long lasting lack
of information and common interest was one of the main reasons to start the
new era of the common work.

IFBB, NABBA and WABBA
The „real touch“ with the „West“ was in 1987. A number of Bodybuilding delegations visited the Socialist World (IFBB, WABBA and NABBA). Again the pioneer of the relations with the "West" was Edmundas Daubaras. The owner and the President of IFBB BEN WEIDER visited the USSR too. Later on various occasions meetings of EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS and BEN WEIDER were organized in Paris (France), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), New York (USA), Moscow and Leningrad (Russia).
Just before the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 under the leadership of
EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS Lithuania joined NABBA (Epinal, France). Then NATALIJA
MURNIKOVIENE (later two times IFBB Miss Olympia third place winner) and
ROLANDAS BUCINSKAS (later heavyweight IFBB Europe Champion) became NABBA
Europe Champions.
At the same time in 1991 Lithuanian RIMONTAS MAZIONIS participated in WABBA
European Championship.
Soon after Lithuania many other Socialist Countries joined different International Sport Organizations.
For many years used to the serious official work the former Socialist
Countries found in IFBB, NABBA and WABBA unexpected things.
The more we were interested in the juridical questions, the more we were disappointed. The most important and negative was: NABBA and WABBA had no juridical registration as International Sport Organizations and many years worked unofficially. Only Logos were registered. But what is a Logo only? Without the International Federation Registration, Seals, Constitution, Rules etc. they can not mean International Federation. BEN WEIDER (former IFBB owner and President) used to call such so called International Organizations "a group of friends".

WFF (WORLD FITNESS FEDERATION)
Together with EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania) in 1991 KLAUS HOFFMANN (representing Germany) joined English Public Sport Club named „NABBA UK“ (still there is no such officially registered International Organization under the name „NABBA-International“).
Both EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS and KLAUS HOFFMANN were working on developing fitness Internationally and both of them had close point of view: EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS, representing the famous "Amber Prix International" and KLAUS HOFFMANN, representing "Miss Figure World Grand Prix" contests.
In 1995 the great common extraordinary project of developing fitness World Wide started – that was the World Fitness Championships.
The fitness project was named "World Fitness Federation" (WFF).

1995 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(La Valetta, Malta)
EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania), ANARGIROS TSOPOURIDIS (Greece), KLAUS HOFFMANN (Germany) decided to set a new International Fitness Federation (WFF) that will rule the Sport of Fitness World Wide.

1996 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Stuttgart, Germany)
EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania), PETER PAPULA (Austria), ANARGIROS TSOPOURIDIS (Greece), KLAUS HOFFMANN (Germany) made the finishing touches setting the WFF and decided to organize the first WFF World Championship in Kaiserslautern (Germany).

1997 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Vilnius, Lithuania)
EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania), PETER PAPULA (Austria), ANARGIROS TSOPOURIDIS (Greece), KLAUS HOFFMANN (Germany) decided to organize WFF World Championship in Linz (Austria).
The new Aerobic Fitness Category was presented in Linz for the first time.
Though the International work was done, the International Contests were organized, but the highest level WFF reached in 1998 at the World Championships in Palanga (Lithuania).
That was the first really great common international event.
1998 WFF World Championship was supported and sponsored by the Government
Lithuania. It collected nearly two hundred athletes from twenty one country.
The World Championship showed the wide possibilities in developing sport of
fitness World Wide. At the same time some negative things were evident.
Among them was a big juridical problem in our activities - only legal work in post Soviet Countries is possible. Especially International one!
Otherwise the organization can not be supported by Government, Public Organizations, reviewed by Press and Television, it can not be sponsored by great commercial firms.
Have a look: we call „International Sport Organization“ and finally there is no Registration, Seal, Bank Accounts and lots of other necessary official things. That was not serious and that was the difference from the "Western" sport organizations (and still is!).
WFF had to be juridical registered.

1998 WFF-INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Palanga, Lithuania)
EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania), ANARGIROS TSOPOURIDIS (Greece), KLAUS HOFFMANN (Germany), VLADIMIR SUBOV, IGOR CVETKOV (Russia), OLEG BURINSKIJ, MARIS SVEIDUKS (Latvia), VASILIJ BESPALENKO (Ukraine), BOB DIVIKLKA (Czech), GEORGIJ KATULIN (Belarussia).
The main question was to prepare the WFF juridical registration.
KLAUS HOFFMANN had no interest in the official registration of WFF. It was decided that the registration of WFF-International will be performed by the "Amber Prix" International Executive Committee led by EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS and with KLAUS HOFFMANN being "out of the game".

1999 WFF-INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Daugavpils, Latvia)
EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS, JURIJ STEPANOV, VYTAUTAS JUKNEVICIUS (Lithuania), IGOR CVETKOV, DMITRIJ KORNIUCHIN (Russia), OLEG BURINSKIJ, MARIS SVEIDUKS (Latvia), VASILIJ BESPALENKO (Ukraine), WILMA KERN (Switzerland), INNAR MARDO, PAVEL KOSENKO (Estonia).
The Congress approved the Constitution of WFF-International, the Judging Rules,
elected the Executive Committee.

EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS (Lithuania) was elected to the position of the President
of WFF-International, OLEG BURINSKIJ (Latvia) was elected to the position of
the Vice President of WFF-International.

2000 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS. TWO WFF
(Northeim, Germany)
Finally WFF-International was juridical registered in Lithuania and two International WFF organizations appeared: one was officially registered by Law and another without any official registration.
In order not mix both International WFF Federations the Official WFF was called „WFF Eastern Hemisphere“ (President EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS) and Not Official „WFF Southern Hemisphere“ (President KLAUS HOFFMANN).
In order to coordinate the common work of the both federations EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS was elected to the position of the Vice President of "WFF Southern Hemisphere".
The Congress decided:
- The Official WFF-International organizes annual WFF Europe
Championship and "Amber Prix International"
- The "WFF Southern Hemisphere" organizes WFF World Championship
and WFF "Universe" Contest.
Then in 2000 the first WFF Europe Championship was held in Daugavpils (Latvia) and the first WFF „Universe“ in Baden (Austria).

2001 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Tallinn, Estonia)
The Congress approved the good work of the WFF-International as the Scandinavian Countries joined the federation.

2002 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Moscow, Russia)
The Congress underlined the support of the Governmental and Public Institutions of various Countries to the International activities of WFF. That proves that WFF has right priorities.
After the meeting in Stuttgart (Germany) of the WFF President EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS with the Owner and the President of „Fame“, „America Pageant“, „Muscle mania“ LOUIS CWICK (USA), became clear that these International Organizations are private properties too.

2003 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Northeim, Germany)
That was a common Congress of both WFF federations.
KLAUS HOFFMAN told that he lost his main sponsors and he can not organize WFF World Championship any longer.
The Congress decided that the Official WFF federation will organize WFF World Championship every year, and the „WFF Southern Hemisphere“ will remain organizing „Universe“ Contest only.
The 2003 WFF World Championship was held in Moscow (Russia).

2004 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Riga, Latvia)
The Congress:
- set the WFF Professional Division
- approved WFF Pro Contest Rules
- appointed to the WFF Pro Division Director‘s position ANDREJ BASOV (Russia).
- The Congress decided to organize the first Pro World Championship in Vilnius (Lithuania).

2005 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(three places: Sapri (Italy), Palanga (Lithuania), Moscow (Russia)
The Congress underlined fast growing of the International Federation.
WFF aim and priority was the developing Fitness World Wide on the highest level possible and at the same time communicating with Governmental and Public Institutions of various countries.
Being not registered officially KLAUS HOFFMAN‘s „WFF Western Hemisphere“ could not do it. So two WFF federations went their own way: one official and another just as it is...

2006 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Moscow, Russia)
The Congress underlined constant growing support of the Governments of various Countries to the WFF International activities.
The Congress appointed:
- MICHAEL GLASS (USA) to the position of the President WFF North America
- JORGE CEDALE (Argentina) to the position of the President WFF South America.

2007 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Palanga, Lithuania)
The Congress decided:
- to set and register new WBBF (World Body Building Federation) for Bodybuilders. From 2007 WFF-International represents Fitness Sport and WBBF-International Bodybuilding Sport World Wide.
- WFF signs Anti-Doping Contract with WADA (World Anti Doping Agency).
(The Contract of WFF with WADA was signed in August 2007)

2008 WFF INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
(Daugavpils, Latvia)
It approved the WFF Contract with WADA. That proves a letter from WADA signed by WADA Director RUNE ANDERSEN.
The Congress underlined, that due to the great International importance of the „Amber Prix International“ for the International Sport the Government Lithuania included it in he 2008 State Budget Lithuania.

FUTURE VISION
The Congress declared that today WFF-WBBF International unite 89 Country-Members.
The Congress underlined that different from other International Federations WFF has a clear future vision. It is supported by the Governments of various Countries.
Basing on this strategy WFF and WBBD is successfully growing and becoming stronger.
World and Continental Championships are held on regular basis.
The number of Professional sportsmen and fitness athletes grows rapidly. More and more people are involved in sport.
In 2008 WFF and WBBF plan to organize over 60 International Contests in various Countries.
Annual WFF and WBBF International Seminar for Trainers and Judges helps the rise the qualification of the specialists.

we know it very well!