Iris Kyle (born August 22, 1974) is an American professional female bodybuilding champion."Iris Kyle" was born in 1974 in Benton Harbor, Michigan,the fifth of six children. Her early athletic endeavors included running cross country, basketball (point guard), and softball (shortstop). She was an All-American in basketball, and received a number of athletic scholarship offers. Iris attended Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi on a basketball scholarship, majoring in business administration.
Kyle won her first contest, the 1994 Long Beach Muscle Classic. She earned her pro card by winning the heavyweight class and overall title at the 1998 NPC USA Championship in Las Vegas. Kyle has had a series of high placing as a professional, including sixth consecutive top five showings at the Ms. Olympia. She won the heavyweight class at the Ms. Olympia in 2001, then captured the overall titles at both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia in 2004. In 2006, Kyle won both her second Ms. International title and her second Ms. Olympia title; she repeated this double victory in 2007. She won her third straight Ms. Olympia title in 2008. At a height of 5'7", Iris typically competes at a bodyweight of approximately 155–161 pounds.
In recent times Kyle had spent time trying to increase her marketability by auditioning for movies and TV shows. Most recently she appeared on the TV show Wipeout. While competing in the show she was constantly referred to as "he" by one of the hosts and also suffered an accident that broke several ribs, during the first segment on the water slide. Due to these injuries she was not able to train correctly for bodybuilding competition and placed 7th at the 2008 Ms. International, but rebounded at the 2008 Ms. Olympia by winning the show.
In a recent interview with RX Muscle Girls Inc with the hosts Colette Nelson and Krissy Ching, Kyle talked about her appearance in Wipeout as well as her performance at the Ms. International. In the interview she said that she was invited back to the show due to the popularity of her episode, but she declined due to the possibility of injury as well as feeling disrespected by the sexist host who referred to her as a he.
More recently Kyle went to the 2009 Ms. International and won the show, becoming only the second woman to win the show a record of four times. In a recent interview she said that she is planning to come back to break the record and become the greatest Ms. International in history.
