This competition has been held since 1965, has gained a great prestige and attracts every yeara plethora of bodybuilding fans eager to see the best of the best. In almost 55 years, only fifteen bodybuilders have won the Mr. Olympia title, and in that time the competition has also evolved and expanded to include categories such as men's physique, women's physique, classic physique and bikini fitness.
But with such a long history also comes many controversial and disputed victories. In this article I want to discuss the most controversial and famous ones.
Mr. Olympia 1980
Let's start with Arnold Schwarzenegger's seventh and final victory, which is also one of the most controversial victories ever. At the time, Arnold was solely focused on acting, and hadn't stood on stage since 1975, the last time he won Mr. Olympia. It was quite an unexpected comeback for everyone.
The other competitors didn't know until the last minute that Arnold was going to compete. One of the reasons why this victory was so controversial was because the quohe had to lose quite a lot of weight for acting and he only had eight weeks to prepare. So on stage we saw the worst version of Arnold ever to compete. He wasn't the Arnold everyone was used to. Another reason was the fact that Arnold was one of the promoters of the competition, so many believe he paid for the win. At the time, three-time champion Frank Zane was the biggest favorite , as was Mike Mentzer, who was hot on Zane's heels.
But everything turned out differently than expected. Arnold won, with a well-prepared Chris Dickerson finishing second, Zane third and Mentzer even fifth. Zane was reportedly so disappointed with the result that he threw his medal on the floor in the locker room. Mentzer even decided to end his bodybuilding career at the age of 29. According to both Zane and Mentzer, the contest was rigged and predetermined. Arnold Schwarzenegger is definitely bodybuilding's biggest personality, but some of his Mr. Olympia victories are highly questionable.
Mr. Olympia 1981
A year after Arnold Schwarzenegger's highly controversial victory came another, perhaps even more controversial victory. The victory of Frank Columbo, who, following Arnold's example, also decided to make his big comeback. Franko hasn't raced since 1976. In addition, in 1977, he suffered a severe leg injury in the World's Strongest Man competition. Moreover, Franko was Arnold's best friend, so many believed that Arnold, as the promoter of the contest, who had secured thehis comeback victory last year, would do the same for his best friend, and the contest was a foregone conclusion.
Despite the absence of Frank Zane or Mike Metzer, the event was incredibly busy in terms of the quality and preparedness of the contestants. There were future Mr. Olympia champions Chris Dickerson and Samir Bannout, as well as Danny Padilla, Tom Platz and Ken Waller, all of them perfectly prepared. Franko was suffering from visible gynecomastia this year, he was not nearly as powerful and well prepared as he usually is, plus a leg injury visibly damaged his overall physique. Despite all this, Franko won and won his second Mr. Olympia title. Franko Columbo is still of course an icon and one of the best bodybuilders there ever was, honoring his memory.
"Positive attitude is absolutely key" says bodybuilder Jirka Vacek (Interview)
Mr. Olympia 1997
Dorian Yates wins the last Mr. Olympia competition. Dorian was in his worst form ever. He never possessed great symmetry, but he always came well prepared with brutal volumes. This year, however, he was much smaller and, due to an arm injury, much less prepared.
On the other hand, Nasser El Sonbaty, who has been breathing down Dorian's neck for a couple of years, was in the form of his life here. The photos from the competition show that Nasser dominated then, he was bigger, tougher and better prepared, Dorian lost every pose and Nasser was the clear winner. When they finally announced Dorian as the winner, the audience couldn't believe it. But Nasser took it calmly, congratulated his opponent and smiled as he accepted the second place prize. He knew very well that he had won.
"In the end, I would rather be an ordinary person with a clear head" says Filip Grznár (Interview)
Mr. Olympia 2007
Skipping ahead a decade, Jay Cutler managed to win his second overall hereof his four wins, but it was his most controversial victory. Jay was returning here as the defending champion after finally being able to dethrone eight-time Mr. Olympia champion Ronnie Coleman the year before. Jay, however, didn't come in nearly as good shape as he was before, flat and softand lacked separation and readiness, which made his less than ideal physique stand out.
Victor Martinez, on the other hand, was in the form of his life, as he himself later confirmed. Moreover, Viktor entered the competition as the winner of the 2007 Arnold Classic, the second most prestigious bodybuilding competition. So he was one of the main favourites. He was huge, well prepared and a clear winner with the spectators and experts. According to the photographs from that day, he beat Jay in every way and should have gone on to win. But the judges saw it differently and awarded the victory to Jay. Jay then showed similar form a year later, but then he failed the judges and lost the title.
Over the years, this contest has truly become the most prestigious bodybuilding competition in the world. It is every bodybuilder's dream to become a Mr. Olympia title holder, or to at least watch this contest one day. It's amazing how far this competition has come since Larry Scott's first win in 1965.
As this contest has evolved, of course, so has the way bodybuilders look and what the judges look for, which they seem certainly a plus and I believe that with new categories this contest will continue to thrive and attract new fans and bodybuilding enthusiasts.
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I've been aware of bodybuilding and weight training pretty much my whole life. My father is a huge bodybuilding fan. He used to take me to the gym with him when I was little and he even made a small gym in his basement. It was just a matter of time before I got interested in bodybuilding.
But for ten years I was actively involved in Taekwondo. It wasn't until 2015 that I decided to quit Taekwondo and start training full time. At the beginning I did everything just according to my father and then also according to my older brother, who is currently doing power triathlon. Gradually, however, I started to educate myself on training methods and diet.