Rachel McLish is a notable veteran American female bodybuilding champion who has made her mark as a bodybuilder over time. She has wowed people with her incredible work and physique, winning lots of fans for herself over the years.
This outstanding bodybuilder is also prolific with arts as an actress cum author as she has researched intensively and has written bestselling books on fitness and bodybuilding techniques.
We have reviewed the latest updates covering everything you need to know about her on this platform. Scroll down for details.
Rachel McLish Biography, Family
Rachel McLish was born on June 21, 1955, in Texas precisely in a town known as Harlingen. Even though everyone now calls her Rachel McLish, it is noteworthy that her full birth name is actually Rachel Livia Elizondo McLish.
She was born to a father called Rafael and a mother identified as Raquel Elizondo. The bodybuilder grew up with her siblings identified as Sandra Lopez, and Leah Elizondo Yakub.
Upon attaining school age, Rachel was enrolled in Harlingen High School, where she took delight in football being a big fan of the sport. She even became the cheerleader of the Cardinal football team on two occasions.
She finished high school in 1973, and later in 1978, she got accepted into the University of Texas-Pan American, where she majored in physiology, health, and nutrition. Her field of discipline was instrumental in making her go into professional bodybuilding in later life.
Rachel McLish Professional Career
Rachel set the pace for her career way back in College when she began working with McAllen Texas, which was a health club where she groomed herself with the rudiments of body fitness and building. Upon seeing her great potentials, the manager of the club decided to engage her services upon graduating from college and partnered with her in organising a sport Palace Association within Harlingen.
As the experiment with the Sport Palace proved successful, Rachel took the initiative to start up more facilities one in Corpus Christi and another in Brownsville which was in the dawn of 1980. With this, she got the inspiration to start competing professionally in bodybuilding as her boss Javier Gutierrez whispered the idea to her.
Fortunately, her decision to compete yielded much success, and in 1980, Rachel made history by winning the maiden edition of the United states Championship. She also won the foremost and foundational IFBB Ms. Olympia contest that was launched in 1980. These titles brought her much fame as every media searchlight was beamed at her then. Many magazines decorated their cover pages with Rachel’s pictures and captions.
Her awesome performance attracted the attention of health and fitness organisations, such as the Dynamics which was a Health gadgets producing firm who took over the burden of sponsoring her. Since then, she has been at the top of her career.
However, in 1981 she was outsmarted by Kike Elomaa who came in to claim the Ms. Olympia title for that year, but Rachel put in much more effort and reclaimed back the title in 1982 after subduing Carla Dunlap based on her eye-catching appeals. It could be recalled that Dunlap later whitewashed Rachel during the 1983 Caesar’s World Cup tournament, while Cory Everson later stripped Rachel off her title in 1985. That led to Rachel’s decision to retire from competing professionally in bodybuilding contests.
Nevertheless, Rachel’s bodybuilding profession was an epoch-making one, as she has imprinted her footprints in the sands of time, being the first ever champion of the Ms. Olympia title and got listed into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 1999.
Indeed, the history of the sports of female bodybuilding cannot be complete without a mention of the name Rachel McLish.
Personal Life, Married, Husband, Children
Currently 70 years old, the former bodybuilder has been married twice. Her first marriage was to her college sweetheart, John P. McLish on February 3, 1979. Sadly the union later turned sour, leading to their divorce.
She then stumbled into movie producer Ron Samuels whom she tied the knot within 1990. The couple lived together in Rancho Mirage, California. In 2008, Rachel resurfaced into the media spotlight when she decided to sell her house for $3 million to Coco Crisp a famous Boston Red Sox player, which made many rounds in the media. It has also been gathered that Rachel is a dedicated Christian who upholds her faith dear to her heart.
Apart from being a bodybuilding champion, Rachel is also an amazing actress on the silver screen. She starred in a number of movies, such as Getting Physical in 1984, Aces: Iron Eagle III in 1992, and Raven Hawk in 1996 where she acted as a giant physically strong woman. She was also in the 1985 documentary titled Pumping Iron II: The Women. She was also featured in the fitness instructional video Shape up which was in collaboration with Schwarzenegger in 1982.
Rachel also diversified into writing as she wrote two significant bestselling books titled “Flex Appeal” and “Perfect Parts” which shade more light on weight training for women. With all of these achievements, you will agree that Rachel is really a versatile personality and a mentor to many timidly vulnerable women out there.
Net worth, salary
Rachel has proven beyond reasonable doubt that she is a very remarkable bodybuilder of great worth, and it is believed that she may have earned quite a fortune from her bodybuilding career, film appearances, and books as her income continues to grow.
Her exact net worth at the moment remains quite vague however, it is believed that she is worth several millions of dollars.
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Weight Height, Body measurement
As a bodybuilder, Rachel has built up her body quite well. She stands at the average height of 5 feet 6.5 inches or 1.69m and maintains a weight of 129 lbs
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