No one can blame Great Britain for exiting the European Union after seeing what took place recently at the 2016 IFBB World Children Fitness Championship in Novi Sad, Serbia. Yes, there is an entire show dedicated to parading half-naked children (male and female) on stage for the pleasure of adults…perhaps some more than others.

Surely this is totally innocent and not intended for pedophiles to get off on. But the entire thing is morally wrong and eclipses the fit model divisions, with which the IFBB seemed too have hit rock bottom. But never say never when it comes to the international federation that will visit the gutter for a dollar.

To be clear, this contest is a part of the IFBB international amateur schedule and not either the NPC or IFBB Professional League’s.

There were seven separate divisions with one including girls as young as five or six years of age. Here is the breakdown:

*Fitness Boys (up to 12 years)

*Fitness Boys (13-15 years)

*Fitness Girls (up to 7 years)

*Fitness Girls (8-9 years)

*Fitness Girls (10-11 years)

*Fitness Girls (12-13 years)

*Fitness Girls (14-15 years)

Many of these divisions had numerous competitors, numbering in the twenties. It was not as if this was just some novelty filler class. Quite the contrary, this was a full-blown competition for grade school children to prance and pose wearing skimpy clothing in front of judges and audience members. They were placed and the top six in each division received trophies after three scoring rounds.

If someone wants to have their kids jumping around in a tu-tu, then enter them in your local gymnastics center. A stage that is used for adults showing their wares at fitness/physique competitions with an overall sexual connotation (especially with the females) is no place for little kids, especially when the object is too wear as little clothing as possible.

Any parent that disagrees with this needs to take stock of themselves and what they perceive as right and wrong. There is no doubt that having your child’s photos and videos posted online for every registered sex offender to see and potentially masturbate to is neglectful or worse.

This is the awful reality television show “Toddlers and Tiaras” on steroids, if you will.

All of the divisions included rounds for routine and ‘swimsuit’ comparisons, much like the any other federation would hold for its fitness category. Garish costumes were aplenty for boys and girls alike and the one saving grace was that the swimsuits for both sexes were not of the thong variety.

Seeing kindergarten age little girls with pigtails wearing competitor numbers while holding a bikini/figure pose and doing quarter turns to the right is douche chill-inducing. Even posting these photos for this story made us feel quite uncomfortable, to be truthful.

We have said it before and have to say it again – the IFBB is a money-hungry organization that will do anything for a buck.

The physique and fitness world is no place for children and this is not a sport like soccer and baseball where playing at the pee wee level is cute. This is disgusting and an embarrassment for the entire industry.

And this is not the first time that this show was held, either. 2016 was the SEVENTH time that the IFBB has put this spectacle on. As stated on IFBB.com, this is called an “important event” with “more and more children” who are the sport’s “future champions.” Novi Sad has had the ‘pleasure’ of hosting this event in each of the last five years, thus gaining the moniker the “world capital of children’s fitness” on the league’s official website.

MuscleSport Magazine has requested a comment from IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santoja. As of this writing, the request has not been answered.

Photos: Courtesy of East Labs.sk/Facebook