Your 2025 2x Ms. Olympia Bikini Champion, Philippine born, Maureen Blanquisco
Too Short for Pageants, Too Powerful for the World: Maureen Blanquisco’s Filipina Flex at Olympia is Historic
Written By Niko Del Rey
This past fall, Maureen Blanquisco didn’t just step on the Ms. Olympia Bikini stage — she stepped into history on October 11, 2025. The Philippines-born athlete secured her second Olympia title, becoming one of only four women ever to claim multiple crowns in the division. It’s the kind of stat that makes the sport stop, blink, and realize the era has officially shifted.
For anyone who’s never fallen down a bodybuilding YouTube rabbit hole, Olympia is the global proving ground. The Super Bowl of sculpted discipline. The space where the world’s elite build, pose, and fight for the most coveted title in fitness. And in 2025, it belonged — again — to a 5-foot Filipina who refused to accept anyone’s limitations but her own.
The Making of a Quiet Storm
Long before Maureen was a two-time world champion, she was a kid who couldn’t sit still. Competitive swimming. Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Cheer. Gymnastics. Her body was a compass pointing to movement, and her competitive instinct was already louder than most adults’ life plans.
But here’s the plot twist: Maureen actually wanted to be in beauty pageants. The glam. The gowns. The spotlight. The dream lasted… until the height requirement crushed it. Five feet tall in a world that worships 5’8”.
Most people would shrink. Maureen recalibrated.
Then she saw India Paulino walk across the Olympia Bikini stage — powerful, feminine, unignorable — and something clicked. This wasn’t just “fitness.” This was art, athleticism, glamour, discipline, and self-authorship fused into one. From that moment, Maureen made one quiet, unshakeable promise to herself: I’m going to Olympia.
Her Origin Story Didn’t Start on a Stage — It Started in Italy
The real climb began in 2015 in Marino, Italy. To even get her pro card, Maureen needed to win her height class and the overall category. High stakes for anyone. Even higher for someone rewriting her own destiny in real time.
She won.
And she kept winning.
Alicante Pro. Miami Pro. Tampa Pro. Dennis James Classic. Boston Pro. Battle of the Bodies. The résumé reads like a highlight reel. More than 10 shows, more than 10 ways of reminding the sport that a Filipina athlete could run the table.
Her Olympia debut in 2019? Ninth place. Most rookies would call it a miracle. Maureen called it a starting point.
2021: Fourth.
2022: First — her breakout, history-shifting title.
2023: Second — still elite, still hungry.
2024: Injured — forced to rest, rebuild, and remember why she started.
2025: First again — a comeback story with no theatrics, just results.
And yes, that win meant beating multiple champions, including 3-time titleholder Ashley Kaltwasser.
But here’s the thing about Maureen: she doesn’t talk about who she beat. She talks about who she’s lifting with her.
“I Am Here for the Filipinos.”
In her post-win interview with NPC News, Maureen didn’t center the stats or the pressure or the legacy. She centered the Philippines.
She said this win felt more special because she was carrying a flag — not across a stage, but across a finish line she once thought she wasn’t tall enough to reach.
And then she turned to the camera, to every dreamer who’s ever been told they were too much or not enough, and said:
“Don’t give up. Even if you’re short or if you’re tall, it’s possible. Anything is possible.”
A two-time Olympia champion with world-class discipline and a Filipina heart that beats for community — Maureen Blanquisco isn’t just collecting trophies. She’s building a new archetype of what a global Filipina athlete looks like.
Small in size. Massive in legacy. And impossible to ignore.
Learn more about Maureen Blanquisco
Written By Niko Del Rey
On October 11, 2025, Maureen Blanquisco officially carved her name in the Bodybuilding hall of fame with her 1st place victory at the Ms. Olympia Bikini competition. This 2025 win made her a 2x champ in the sport, which is an accomplishment only held by 3 other women in bodybuilding history.
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