Atlanta 'Gladiator' not lured by resurrected TV show

But Whitmire decided against it. Still, the rebirth of the program — which pits amateur athletes against one another and the show's cast of characters in contests of strength and agility — has brought back a lot of memories.

"I still have my American Gladiator uniform at home," said Whitmire, who lives in Paulding County. "It's in the attic."

In March 1992, Whitmire was 27 when she went to a Gladiators tryout at the Omni in Atlanta. Some fellow police officers thought it would be a good fit for Whitmire, who ran track in high school, starred on the Police Department's softball team and was training to be a bodybuilder.

The tryout, she said, "was a breeze." She was in a small group of men and women who made it to a live competition the next month in front of an Omni audience.

She won the women's side of the live show, too.

"She just blew everybody out of the water," said Atlanta police Officer David Clemons, a close friend of Whitmire's who attended the tryout and live show. "In my opinion, at the time, she should have been competing on the men's side. The women were really no match for her."

The competitors also taped interviews to show off their personalities. During hers, Whitmire glared into the camera and challenged one of the most well-known female Gladiators.

"I said, 'Storm, this goes to you: I might look sweet, but I'm tough as meat. Now come take a bite of this,' " Whitmire recalled saying.

A couple of months later, "American Gladiators" called, inviting her to be on the nationally televised show in Los Angeles. Of course, Whitmire said yes.

She took off two weeks from work. In Los Angeles, the show put her up in a nice hotel, gave her clothes and spending money.

The first week, she and the other contenders practiced the show's events.

Whitmire didn't make it far in the competition. She tore ligaments in her right knee during an event called the Assault, in which contestants had to dodge tennis balls.

"When I came down, I landed on my right knee," Whitmire said. "I heard this awful pop. I knew right away that something was wrong."

She finished out the first round, but bowed out and flew back to Atlanta.

Whitmire returned to police work and became an investigator. She was promoted to sergeant a few years ago. She still works out, running and lifting weights several days a week.

And, yes, she's watched a few episodes of the new show.

"It's different because of the water," she said, referring to new competitions. "I found that more challenging, because you fall in the water, not on the ground."