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Columbus sports festival expects to attract 170,000 over 3 days

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 5:06 PM Thursday, March 4, 2010

COLUMBUS — Grown men will kick and punch one another. Children will flip and twirl. Overly muscled women will parade around in only the tiniest and shiniest scraps of clothing. And men will prove themselves strong by bench-pressing logs, heaving stones and carrying kegs full of sand.

And that’s only a sliver of what’s in the lineup for the 2010 Arnold Sports Festival that kicks off today, March 4, in Columbus.

Organizers expect more than 170,000 fans to visit the three-day show, which features 18,000 athletes competing in 44 sports.

What started out in 1989 as a one-day men’s professional body-building show has bulged into the largest multisports fitness weekend in the world.

The Arnold Sports Festival is the creation of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and body-building promoter Jim Lorimer, who invited Schwarzenegger to compete in the Mr. World Contest in Columbus in 1970 — a competition Schwarzenegger won.

The Terminator and Rambo — Sylvester Stallone — are expected to appear.

The sports festival features Olympic sports such as archery, boxing, fencing, figure skating, gymnastics, table tennis and wrestling. Through the years, it’s added skateboarding, mixed martial arts fighting, cross-fit dancing and amateur strongman contests. It’s so large the contests are held at Nationwide Arena, the Columbus Convention Center, Veterans Memorial and other downtown venues.

Tickets to events range from $10 for entrance to the EXPO to as much as $350 for a VIP package for the professional bodybuilding competitions.

Events and competitions begin today and end Sunday.

For information, visit www.arnoldsports festival.com.

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