Eleni has spoken exclusively to the "Greek Muscular Women" about herself and her goals and has very kindly made some of her photos available here.

G.Μ.W.: Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get involved in fitness and when?
El.S.-J.: My name is Elena Jaksic-Spourgiti, and I was born on March 30, 1971, in Belgrade, Serbia. There, I got involved in kickboxing with the following distinctions: 3 times Yugoslav Champion in low-kick and 1st place in the 1993 Balkan Championships in Bulgaria. Two-and-a-half years ago I came to Greece, to Alexandroupoli. I stopped training in kickboxing for I could not find a good coach to train me for professional games here in the town I live (I found Paris Vassilikos in Kavala, but I had to move there while being married here). So, I started training with weights since my husband is a bodybuilder. And so, I joined the bodybuilding world. In this way, I learned the fundamentals of weight training, and seeing my body responding, I started preparing myself for fitness contests.

G.Μ.W.: How much does it help you that your husband is into bodybuilding as well?
El.S.-J.: This helped me a lot, because I have somebody to understand me completely and stand next to me, two very important things when preparing for a contest.

G.M.W.: Which of your distinctions do you consider most important and why?
El.S.-J.: The one in the Balkan Championships 2000 in Katerini, because by winning the contest, I also qualifed for the World Championships since I proved that I am improving from contest to contest, and I desrved this qualification.

G.M.W.: Which female athletes do you admire?
El.S.-J.: I have some female athletes as role models, they are foreign ones, especially I like one of them, Cory Everson.

G.M.W.: Do you consider to change sometime from fitness to bodybuilding?
El.S.-J.: No, I don't, because I don't want to lose my femininity.

G.M.W. Can a woman be muscular and at the same time retain her femininity?
El.S.-J.: She can, as long as she doesn't get too extreme about it. She can stay at the fitness level which is aesthetically more beautiful.

G.M.W.: Which parts of your body do you consider as best, and which ones do you wish to improve?
El.S.-J.: Everything on me is perfect!

G.M.W.: Tell us a little bit about your training and nutritional schedule you follow.
El.S.-J.: I change my exercises and training schedules all the time not to get bored and not to let my body get used to it. I don' t do only weights, but many aerobic exercises as well. My training schedule is good for my body only, what's best for me doesn't mean it's best for all women, for every body responds in different weights. But, what is more important than training is nutrition. Training is the 30-40%, while nutrition and rest is the rest 60-70% of success. So, each individual, female or male should experiment on various training schedules and by his errors and his experience which he will obtain to learn how his own body responds and what it needs.

G.M.W.:: Future goals?
El.S.-J.: Miss Olympia, the end of the road.

G.M.W..: What do you do in your everyday life? Work? Hobbies?
El.S.-J..: I am an aerobics instructor and masseuse, my hobbies are watching good movies, walk on the beach in winter when there are no people there, and listen to music that takes me back to the past and think about the future.

G.M.W.: What advice can you give to the women that read us now?
El.S.-J.: Sports = health. Work out, clean up your mind from everyday life, be satisfied with yourselves, with your looks and with your life. Do something good for yourself.

G.M.W.: Tell us something about our web site, "Greek Muscular Women".
El.S.-J.: Your site is very good, I like everything. I would like to see even more photos. I wish you the best of luck.