The Universe Championships are an annual bodybuilding event organised by the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association (NABBA). It has a number of competitions: NABBA Amateur Mr. Universe, Miss Figure, and Miss Toned Figure.
First held in 1948, the contest was initially only for amateur male bodybuilders—but a separate contest for professionals was added in 1952. The NABBA defines amateur as someone who has "never entered and accepted prize money in an advertised professional event". Miss Physique, a women's contest, was added in 1968 and Miss Figure was introduced in 1986.
A separate competition called IFBB Mr. Universe was organized by the IFBB. This changed its name to the World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships in 1976.
Read more about Universe Championships: Mr. Universe, Winners
Famous quotes containing the word universe:
“The universe is the externisation of the soul. Wherever the life is, that bursts into appearance around it. Our science is sensual, and therefore superficial. The earth, and the heavenly bodies, physics, and chemistry, we sensually treat, as if they were self-existent; but these are the retinue of that Being we have.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)