November 9, 2026, 6:31 a.m. ET
- A former four-time Ms. Olympia has accused the current champion of using plexiglass injections to create “plastic” muscles.
- The current champion, Natalia Coelho, did not deny the allegations when given the chance.
- Sports executives have financial ties to the clinic where the procedure allegedly took place.
A former champion of women’s bodybuilding’s biggest event recently shook the sport with a sensational statement about current champion Natalia Coelho’s physical appearance.
Sarah Villegas, a four-time former champion, accused Coelho of having a plexiglass substance injected to build fake “plastic” muscles and win the best physique crown at Ms. Olympia.
“I can’t believe I have to explain why plastic muscle implants have no place in a sport based on building real muscles through human effort,” Villegas told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. “It’s called bodybuilding, not plastic building.”
And that’s just the tip of this “plastic” iceberg. Namely:
∎ Coelho did not deny this claim when given the opportunity.
∎ Villegas did not invent this out of whole cloth. She had received unsolicited “first-hand” information about it from a medical professional at a clinic in Brazil where the procedure was allegedly performed. USA TODAY reviewed this information and confirmed with this person that she shared it with Villegas. This person did not wish to be identified because they feared reprisals.
Villegas told USA TODAY Sports that the case poses an “existential threat” to bodybuilding. She highlighted the health risks of such injections and said she did not want her sport to become a “competition for who has the best cosmetic surgeon”.
∎ The sport’s governing body has a financial interest in ignoring the controversy and has not announced any investigation into it. He also did not respond to several messages about the matter from USA TODAY Sports.
∎ Meanwhile, senior industry figures have criticized Villegas for making this an issue and described her as a sore loser. They claimed there were no rules against the so-called injections. This includes “Voice of Bodybuilding” Bob Cicherillo, who hosts the prestigious Olympia competition.
“I really don’t care what anyone else does,” Cicherillo said on his podcast. “I don’t have any moral or ethical fight here about what anyone does. I don’t care if… you have Cheez Whiz or whatever else you put in your body. We’re only judged by what happens on that stage.”
Former Mr. Olympia Says ‘It’s Cheating’
Such is the state of professional bodybuilding, the same sport that once produced entertainment icons Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, otherwise known as The Incredible Hulk. It’s also a sport in which bodybuilders historically use steroids and other physique-enhancing drugs and impress judges who determine winners based on the muscles in their poses and other factors.
So what’s the problem if some are now trying to win with artificial plexiglass muscles?
“It’s cheating,” said Samir Bannout, the 1983 Mr. Olympia.
In that case, Coelho is accused of using a form of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), also known as plexiglass, to enhance her appearance before winning the women’s physique crown at the Ms. Olympia competition in 2025, defeating Villegas, the runner-up. Coelho then won it again in Las Vegas in late September, while Villegas finished third.
Villegas’ coach and husband, Ali Taktak, said the person who provided the information about Coelho’s PMMA injections also identified the clinic and doctor where she allegedly got them in Brazil: Fernando Vitor of Instituto Lappidare.
Current champion Coelho has refused to confirm or deny the allegation.
USA TODAY Sports confirmed that the person who provided this information to Villegas is a licensed medical professional in Brazil and that Coelho showed up at that clinic with Vitor, according to a video on Instagram.
Vitor and his clinic have financial ties to the sport’s governing body through Tamer El-Guindy, a bodybuilding event promoter and producer of the Olympia event.
Coelho, who grew up in Brazil, neither denied nor confirmed whether she received PMMA injections. Cicherillo asked Coelho about the controversy during a public seminar in September.
“If I go down this path, I’m not doing the sport any good,” Coelho said. Coelho did not return several messages seeking additional comment. Vitor and El-Guindy also did not respond to messages.
‘We have no rules’ against plexiglass muscles
The governing body of the sport is the IFBB Pro League, originally known as the International Federation of Bodybuilders. The organization and its president Jim Manion also did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment by phone and email. Neither does Jake Wood, owner of the Olympia event, the most important event in sports.
After Villegas received this information about Coelho last year, Villegas said his coach, Taktak, shared it with league management. In response, Villegas said the IFBB Pro League has stated that it “does not have rules prohibiting PMMA plastic muscle implants” and that “no one is asked to submit a resume of what they have done to achieve their physique before going on stage.”
This response echoes major sports figures who have criticized Villegas for speaking out. Shawn Ray, a 13-time Mr. Olympia finalist, said on a podcast with Cicherillo that Villegas “looks like a sore loser” after being beaten by Coelho for the crown. He and others said there were no rules against it and it was up to the judges to choose a winner based on what they saw, much like a beauty pageant. This is why they defend Coelho.
Cicherillo called Villegas’ allegations “very unprofessional.”
“We don’t have any set rules or testing procedures,” Cicherillo said on a podcast last year after Villegas spoke out against Coelho. “It’s anything but a ‘natural’ federation.”
Ray agreed.
Even if Coelho used PMMA, “What rule would she break?” » asked Ray. “If you can find the rule book, what rule book is she breaking?…So where does Sarah have a foot to stand on?”
Cicherillo and Ray did not return messages seeking comment.
Brazil recently banned such injections after the death of a woman
Villegas and others say getting artificial muscles tramples the competitive spirit. Instead of building muscle through hard work and nutrition over time, they say PMMA injections ignore all of that and render it useless.
Such injections can also risk disfigurement or worse. In the United States, PMMA is approved for medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only when used as a dermal filler to treat nasolabial folds and acne scars – not for bodybuilding physique enhancement. In Brazil, PMMA was banned for cosmetic purposes in June, shortly after a 48-year-old woman died following a PMMA injection for a cosmetic buttock augmentation procedure. A Brazilian government official said the injections could cause “irreversible damage or even death.”
In the United States, the substance is designed to “add volume” for aesthetic reasons
In the United States, cosmetic PMMA injections consist of PMMA microspheres in bovine collagen – a product known as Bellafill. California doctor Steven Williams told USA TODAY Sports that the idea of using it to artificially strengthen muscles “makes sense” because “a little bit of bulk goes a long way” for aesthetic reasons.
“After the injection, the bovine collagen is absorbed, letting the (PMMA) beads create more volume,” said Williams, a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. “Because it can add volume, some people have tried using it to add volume in other parts of the body.”
Williams told USA TODAY Sports that its use for muscle bulking in the United States would be considered “off-label,” meaning the FDA has not studied its safety for that purpose or legitimized the claimed benefits.
In bodybuilding, the use of PMMA to improve physique has been discussed for years with little public confirmation of its actual use. Many in the industry claim that bodybuilder Rich Piana was known for this before he died in 2017 at the age of 46.
Longtime bodybuilders who consider it cheating say it’s different from using steroids because using steroids still requires hard work to build those muscles. This is not the case for PMMA.
“It’s a joke,” Bannout said. Anyone who improves their muscles in this way is “making fun of sport”.
Is there really no ban on this in professional bodybuilding?
This is another strange aspect of this controversy. As of early November, the IFBB Pro League website does not list any rules prohibiting muscle implants or artificial muscle augmentation, except in drug-tested “natural” competitions which are far less popular and lucrative than less regulated professional competitions such as Mr. and Ms. Olympia.
The Olympia event is the Super Bowl of professional bodybuilding where winners reap cash prizes and attention that leads to even more lucrative sponsorships. This is not a “natural” competition subject to “natural” rules.
But the IFBB Pro League website still states that professional competitors “may not wear watches, bracelets, pendants, chains, bracelets (wrist or ankle), ornaments, or artificial aids to the physique,” which seems to imply a ban on external enhancements.
Separately, an old IFBB Pro League rulebook from 2007 was posted on an Internet forum in 2008, stating that muscle implants and “any artificial enhancement of muscle” are rule violations punishable by disqualification and possible suspension. But that apparently doesn’t always hold true, according to statements from the sport’s biggest voices.
The IFBB Pro League, based in Pennsylvania, is separate from the global amateur organization IFBB, based in Madrid, which conducts testing for banned performance enhancers and has banned methods that violate the “spirit of the sport.”
Financial links between the clinic and bodybuilding leaders
Villegas sat next to Coelho during a press conference at the Olympia in…
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