Why The Olympia Sucks

[Nelson Montana]

I must say, I feel sorry for people who never witnessed a "real" bodybuilding show -- like the one's before 1980.

It was so different than it is now, right down to the look on stage. (The halls used to be pitch black except for a single, stark overhead light that brought out every detail of every muscle.)

And not to defend naivete' but seeing guys like Chuck Sipes and Rick Wayne before most of the audience even realized the competitors have begun to dabble with anabolics was the most mesmerizing thing you can imagine. NOBODY looked like that! I remember thinking; "Wow, that new Weider Super-Pro 101 protein drink must really be something!"

But beyond the nostalgia, at one time the Olympia was meant to be the ultimate decision as to who was the best. In other words, only the men who could possibly be considered the best could compete to settle things once and for all. That meant, (back in the 60's at least) usually only 3 or 4 guys were up for the title -- a short show for sure , which is why the Mr. Universe was held on the same night. In 1968 nobody even bothered to challange Sergio Oliva! Can you imagine anything like that ever happeneing today with the monstrous egos around?

Today, if you have a pro card, you can enter the Olympia and it's an endless calvacade of guys that look exactly alike. By the time the two or three possible winners show up, I'm bored already.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't deny the fact that I participated in the sport in its heyday. I even saw Arnold against Sergio. THAT was show.

The closest anyone today can come to getting a glimpse of what is was like back in "the day" is to see "Pumping Iron." Without that movie no one would ever believe how magnificant it really was.

 

[bigAragorn]

"Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't deny the fact that I participated in the sport in its heyday. I even saw Arnold against Sergio. THAT was show."

Maybe you should let go, man, let go.

 

[bigerisbetter]

yeah its time to move on, your living in the past bro.

 

[Stillgoing]

Its so easy to look to the past with rose colored glasses as they say. Progress is just a fact of life and it can't be stopped, so, why even think about it. Heres a funny analogy, living in Houston where traffic is horrible, I often think, "man, I would love to be living like 30 years ago when none of this development & traffic was here. I'd travel the country and see the old country diners and main street shops and gas stations with the mechanics hangin' around, and there be lots of trees left and not much traffic, and there wouldn't be a Walmart and McDonalds on every corner, and there would actually be some local culture in different parts of the country, etc.". Of course I can't do it and I really wouldn't want to, but, I think about it.....I know, where the hell did that come from, ehhh, I dunno.....

 

[Vectork39]

hey stillgoing, remember the days of this web board when people posted interesting responses that actually had meaning, not like now where people become absent minded in the middle of their own post

just playin

 

[bigAragorn]

Its just an irrelavent point to someone like me that he is trying to make. I dont know any better than the Mr.- 20- competitor- "slugfests" -which- really- only- 5- of- the- guys- should- come- out- to-because-weider-has-his-dick-in-ronnies-ass-or-maybe-the-other-way-around-Olympia. I think Nelson just wants everyone to see how great it was when he competed. Hey, ive seen Pumping Iron, and yes it was awe-inspiring but no one will ever experience what you did and how you appreciate your experience. I guess from alot of your posts i seem to be getting the idea that you want everyone to have enjoyed your "time" ( and by that i dont just mean your time but what you have seen and experienced ). I do that alot, try to make people see how glorious it was to score the winning goal in that big tournament in the Penatanguwasheen hockey winterama when i was thirteen, i mean. You know what, its better to keep it to yourself cause we all have that feeling bro, and the more you preach the more you sound like a has been.

 

[Zoomster]

I actually worked out in Santa Monica when Arnold and Franco were in the pit. Pretty crazy..they looked f-in huge!

 

[Koivu_11]

Well the idea of seeing an overtanned enough guy to get a skin cancer at 30 years old with posing oil all over his 290 pounds ripped body just sounds gay to me... I like most of the good looking decent body mass with between 7% and 11% bodyfat all year long. Looks healthier and better to me eyes. So I don't even have an idea of what is a real BB competition, nor what it looked 45 years ago.

 

[Deleted member 33117]

bigAragorn is right Nelson, it makes you sound like a has-been. Still I think must of us can appreaciate where you are coming from. The only real problem I see today with the sport is the mentality of size at any cost, and the judges seem to be supporting it. Sure Ronnie Coleman has great genetics and busts his ass, but he is not asthetic anymore. He looks pregnant. Half the guys on stage at the Olympia do today. If you are in contest condition and your waist is a hair over 32" you really shouldn't have a pro-card in my opinion. Nothing wrong with wanting to be a monster. It should be encourged, but size without asthetics and symetry looks like shit. My only other complaint is the prize money at the shows. Come on, $100,000 for winning the top professional event in the world in your sport? That's a slap in the face. Baseball and basketball players in the bottom 10% make more money from comepeting in their sport that most of the top guys in bodybuilding. To boot, the bodybuilders are having to work harder, have better genetics to make it, and have to pump 50 times as many drugs into their bodies to stay on top... for less money. Its a joke.

 

[variation]

ya, I would've liked to be around then, but I wasn't I don't really like any of the new bodybuilders... pumping iron was awesome, I can watch that movie 1000 times.

 

[Nelson Montana]

Whoa! Whoa! Aragom is taking this way too seriously. Nobody's living in the past here.
Did my post come off like a sermon about how things were good only in "my day?" Let me tell tell something. THIS is my day. Right now. Here.

The point I was trying to make was that BB shows have been ruined by commercialism and corprate control -- just like music and movies and a lot of other stuff.

It isn't because the old days were better. A lot of things about the old days sucked. But bodybuilding shows had an entirely different vibe and I think even a teenager can understand how and why it was better years ago by seeing "Pumping Iron". I thought that was a pretty benign point, and still someone jumps down my throat. Chill bro.

 

[Bishop4]

Its just an irrelavent point to someone like me that he is trying to make. I dont know any better than the Mr.- 20- competitor- "slugfests" -which- really- only- 5- of- the- guys- should- come- out- to-because-weider-has-his-dick-in-ronnies-ass-or-maybe-the-other-way-around-Olympia. I think Nelson just wants everyone to see how great it was when he competed. Hey, ive seen Pumping Iron, and yes it was awe-inspiring but no one will ever experience what you did and how you appreciate your experience. I guess from alot of your posts i seem to be getting the idea that you want everyone to have enjoyed your "time" ( and by that i dont just mean your time but what you have seen and experienced ). I do that alot, try to make people see how glorious it was to score the winning goal in that big tournament in the Penatanguwasheen hockey winterama when i was thirteen, i mean. You know what, its better to keep it to yourself cause we all have that feeling bro, and the more you preach the more you sound like a has been.

someone fell off the wrong side of the bed this morning.

 

[Vectork39]

haha hey everyone take a step back and relax, lets cherish the good ol' days but lets look to the future, hopefully this bloated pregnant look will fade and other qualities will prevail, these mass monsters have their time in the sun as of now but in a few years when the amount of drugs becomes too costly and lives become lost in the equation, the entire sport will not digress but change direction for the better.

CAN I GET AN AMEN?

 

[jasonstrong]

So are people living in the past that remember Wilt Chamberlin Larry Bird, Jim Brown , Johnny U, Two Tall Jones Mean Joe Greene , Pete Rose Johnny Bench Willie Mayes, Joe Dimaggio, etc.
I get chills everytime I see the photos and movies from the 70's and late '60's...those were attainable physiques.
I think most of the people give Neslon a hard time just to do it.
He has and will contribute a lot to this board is anyone always right-nope but everyone is entitled to their opinion including you all reading this board.....

 

[Lift Chief]

Nowadays the posing with all that dancing and hopping around is so fucking gay.

I wish it was like it used to be where it was just graceful, fluid posing- no stupid showmanship.

 

[~ThaGame~]

from what i understand just because you get your pro card doens't mean you can enter the olympia, you have to place in other shows (GNC SOS, Arnold, NOC, etc.) before the olympia to qualify. so nelson, your wrong there man not every pro has the chance to compete in the olympia.

 

[crmdogg]

i agree with your point that they all almost look alike.

 

[mt]

I think Bodybuilding was generally regarded by the public as an obscure subculture and freak show. It took someone with the charisma of Arnold to push it into the main stream (somewhat). After watching Pumping Iron as a boy did the sport fascinate me. Now it seems once again to the general public to be a subculture of freaks. With the trend toward being even bigger and freakier and the huge role that drugs play I truly doubt it will ever be a main stream sport which will mean that there will never be any big money to be made by the athletes. It will become harder and harder for an upcoming competitor to justify the price paid for being on a world class level.

I was at a mall the other day when a guy who was obviously a bodybuilder and quite huge and ripped was prancing around with his stripper-looking girlfriend. He was wearing those tight bicycle shorts and a tank-top. He was like a freak show with people staring at him and shaking their heads as he waddled through the mall with his legs spread apart because his thighs were so massive. Some even laughed as he passed and you could hear mumblings of "steroids" from some of the teenage boys around. Because his shorts were so tight you could tell he was wearing a thong underneath. He seemed oblivious to it all. Perhaps he just liked the attention regardless of whether or not it was positive or negative. Or maybe he was just dillusional. Maybe some on this board will say "screw them" I want to be a freak and don't care what anybody thinks. Fair enough. But don't complain when nobody wants to pay money to see you onstage posing in Speedos pulling it thong-like up your butt. I think BB's glory days were in the seventies and won't ever achieve that level of acceptance today.

 

[The_Eviscerator]

I think there are some guys today that look incredible.... but they don't win the big show. Ronnie looks like shit... He looked good 5 years ago, but his gut is too huge to win an O.

I think Levrone, Cormier, Dexter Jackson, Lee Priest still carry the torch for aesthetics.... but guys like Jean Pierre Fux, Markus Ruhl and other bloated HGH physiques should just powerlift and forget it.

 

[Riker29]

Whoa! Whoa! Aragom is taking this way too seriously. Nobody's living in the past here.

I agree with you on this one Nelson.

(Dont worry, half of these whiners are kids who wil be back in school in a few weeks.)

The sad story is that todays "sport" has little to appeal to most people. On pure aesthetics (thats LOOKs for you high school kids) the pros look gross these days. To promote the life style of the elite pros as "healthy" is a joke.

The only real fascination with the super huge pros, is as a freak show, almost comical.

Yeah, its impressive in many many ways, they have spent a LOT of time and effort, and have had a LOT of discipline to get where they are. But please, dont tell me it looks "good" or that its healthy. LOL

But this is all subjective anyway, and will ultimately end up in this thread becoming a flame war. Why arent these kids out getting laid instead of venting their frustrations on a keyboard? LOL

 

[Bulk King]

I must say, I feel sorry for people who never witnessed a "real" bodybuilding show -- like the one's before 1980.

It was so different than it is now, right down to the look on stage. (The halls used to be pitch black except for a single, stark overhead light that brought out every detail of every muscle.)

And not to defend naivete' but seeing guys like Chuck Sipes and Rick Wayne before most of the audience even realized the competitors have begun to dabble with anabolics was the most mesmerizing thing you can imagine. NOBODY looked like that! I remember thinking; "Wow, that new Weider Super-Pro 101 protein drink must really be something!"

But beyond the nostalgia, at one time the Olympia was meant to be the ultimate decision as to who was the best. In other words, only the men who could possibly be considered the best could compete to settle things once and for all. That meant, (back in the 60's at least) usually only 3 or 4 guys were up for the title -- a short show for sure , which is why the Mr. Universe was held on the same night. In 1968 nobody even bothered to challange Sergio Oliva! Can you imagine anything like that ever happeneing today with the monstrous egos around?

Today, if you have a pro card, you can enter the Olympia and it's an endless calvacade of guys that look exactly alike. By the time the two or three possible winners show up, I'm bored already.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't deny the fact that I participated in the sport in its heyday. I even saw Arnold against Sergio. THAT was show.

The closest anyone today can come to getting a glimpse of what is was like back in "the day" is to see "Pumping Iron." Without that movie no one would ever believe how magnificant it really was.

You certainly put an interesting slant on what I would call a lack of competetion in the old days.

 

[2horns]

...take a look at any and all sports, they all are changing and have changed so much from their beginings...its just apart of life...its impossible to truely compare era's in any sport imo...

 

[Peckz]

Look like you struck a nerv with the juice monkeys here Nelson. punk ass replys.

 

[DeepZenPill]

Those are times I look back to for a lot of things, even though I wasn't around then. Bodybuilding was about having the BEST body, not the biggest at any cost. It was also about health. There are exceptions of course, but I've read more than just a few interviews where pros from the old days can't believe the shit current competitors do to win.

Corporate control has fucked with more than just bodybuilding since then. I guess that's why I listen to mostly music from that era as well.

 

[Tiervexx]

I agree with nelson, it is retarted to see so many guys in the Olympia who have no chance of winning. It would make allot more since if only Ronnie, Jay, Gunter, and maybe one or two others were in it.

 

[Quadsweep]

I must say, I feel sorry for people who never witnessed a "real" bodybuilding show -- like the one's before 1980.

It was so different than it is now, right down to the look on stage. (The halls used to be pitch black except for a single, stark overhead light that brought out every detail of every muscle.)

And not to defend naivete' but seeing guys like Chuck Sipes and Rick Wayne before most of the audience even realized the competitors have begun to dabble with anabolics was the most mesmerizing thing you can imagine. NOBODY looked like that! I remember thinking; "Wow, that new Weider Super-Pro 101 protein drink must really be something!"

But beyond the nostalgia, at one time the Olympia was meant to be the ultimate decision as to who was the best. In other words, only the men who could possibly be considered the best could compete to settle things once and for all. That meant, (back in the 60's at least) usually only 3 or 4 guys were up for the title -- a short show for sure , which is why the Mr. Universe was held on the same night. In 1968 nobody even bothered to challange Sergio Oliva! Can you imagine anything like that ever happeneing today with the monstrous egos around?

Today, if you have a pro card, you can enter the Olympia and it's an endless calvacade of guys that look exactly alike. By the time the two or three possible winners show up, I'm bored already.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't deny the fact that I participated in the sport in its heyday. I even saw Arnold against Sergio. THAT was show.

The closest anyone today can come to getting a glimpse of what is was like back in "the day" is to see "Pumping Iron." Without that movie no one would ever believe how magnificant it really was.

I undrstand where you are coming from but I disagree on a couple points. Although I do not care for some of the bloated guts, These guys are all awsome! I compete at a national level and it takes a lot even tp be there. Also you must qualify to compete at the Mr O. I know the drug use is out of hand. (Hell I think mine is even though I am using 1/3 less at least than most of those I compete aginst) But that is how it is and a lot of guys use what the pros use and some could be beat by a really good natural competitor. It was more pure back in the day but I do not think it was any more prestigious (sp?) There are a lot more BB today than back then therefor the competition is tougher IMHO.

Quad

 

[kronk]

Re: Re: Why The Olympia Sucks

I undrstand where you are coming from but I disagree on a couple points. Although I do not care for some of the bloated guts, These guys are all awsome! I compete at a national level and it takes a lot even tp be there. Also you must qualify to compete at the Mr O. I know the drug use is out of hand. (Hell I think mine is even though I am using 1/3 less at least than most of those I compete aginst) But that is how it is and a lot of guys use what the pros use and some could be beat by a really good natural competitor. It was more pure back in the day but I do not think it was any more prestigious (sp?) There are a lot more BB today than back then therefor the competition is tougher IMHO.

Quad

Well said Quad.

 

[anabolic24/7]

nowadays too much politics. Should Dorian have won his 6th with the bad bi, or Coleman last year with the "gut", with Cutler in the shape he was in.
Back "in the day" there was alot of politics too, but Arnold is still my fav.
As long as the Olympia is controlled by a business it will be that way. IMHO
But I'll be at the Arnold Classic fer sure.

 

[bigAragorn]

Hey dave riker i might be young but i know what aesthetics means......eat a dick, there's some karma for ya.

Hey nelson, whatever, you're not livin in the past whatever.......im not taking it all that seriously i never said that i dont like that look.....in fact i would much rather be able to do a vaccuum than drink a beer can from my gut.......all im sayin is is you say why the olympia sucks now and all i hear is "it was better in my day son."

 

[bigAragorn]

Actually in my second post on this thread nelson i was trying to say that i think you have probably had some pretty wonderful experiences, and i thought you were trying to force people to see it the way you do.....well i never jumped down your throat but i just dont see how the olympia sucks now and it didnt before, i mean.....hasnt it always been commercial anyways?????? And God forbid you competed when it was commercial, I mean, where's the love?

Even if there are 20 guys on stage now Ronnie is Weider's man just like Arnold was.

 

[hardrock]

I think there are some guys today that look incredible.... but they don't win the big show. Ronnie looks like shit... He looked good 5 years ago, but his gut is too huge to win an O.

I think Levrone, Cormier, Dexter Jackson, Lee Priest still carry the torch for aesthetics.... but guys like Jean Pierre Fux, Markus Ruhl and other bloated HGH physiques should just powerlift and forget it.

Well said!

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

agreed.

To see the sergio/arnold matchup in person must have been something.

 

[mrflexdiesel]

I love the Olympia! Look forward to it every year. I actually think at that level you can tell noticeable differences in their physiques. I'm still a number one fan of Kevin Levrone (especially when he's on). His build is the kind of build I'm shooting for. Also, like the look of Dexter Jackson, Johnnie Jackson, Victor Martinez, and Troy Alves. Still look sharp and solid w/o looking to big, blocky, and distended.

 

[The_Eviscerator]

agreed.

To see the sergio/arnold matchup in person must have been something.

Image: http://prodtn.cafepress.com/7/6741627_F_tn.jpg

Hey!!! Can you make a shirt that says the 135 pound club or the 200 pound club!! I want to wear one of those to the gym because I think I would actually get more looks and laughs with one of those.

 

[Riker29]

Hey dave riker i might be young but i know what aesthetics means......eat a dick, there's some karma for ya.

Funny I was not even talking about you.

Oh, I will be glad to send some your way....

 

[bigAragorn]

all right man i was outta line......i thought you were talking about me.....whatever.

 

[needsize]

For me its the politics, the winner isnt the one with the best physique, its the one with his nose the furthest up weiders ass, or the one who can sell the most magazines... I dont see the spectator potential in that

 

[revexrevex]

Very thought out post by C3 once again

 

[c3bodybuilding]

I would say it was more prestigious back in the 60's and 70's. I remember reading articles about Steve Reeves, and how people would follow him in awe when he would walk on the beach. If Ronnie or just about any other pro today did the same, people would look away in disgust.

The Mr. Olympia and Universe used to be a title that people respected. Now sadly it's a freak show. You have these 'fans' at the shows who look like they never even seen the inside of a gym chanting on this unhealthy bullshit, and keeping it going. Meanwhile even if a guy doesn't want to go to that extreme, but wants to be a bodybuilder, he has to do it, no other choice. Look at Flex, he looked incredible in the early 90's, but that blob Dorian kept winning. What a joke.

If judges would stop rewarding these pregnant screw balls, and maybe give someone like Dexter the Olympia, perhaps things would change. But it's that time in the Olympia history again, where they give one new the guy the O for a year or two, and then give it to someone else for another 5 or 6 years, while guys who really deserve it, get jack.

 

[horsePOWER]

kind of a coincidence, i started to read the first 100 pages of Arnold's old encyclopedia. many pictures from the turn of the century to the mid-80's. showed the huge change and evolution in the male physique.

i personally like the total dark room and single spot light, that and a physique of a greek god just looks inspiring to me.

 

[The_Eviscerator]

For me its the politics, the winner isnt the one with the best physique, its the one with his nose the furthest up weiders ass, or the one who can sell the most magazines... I dont see the spectator potential in that

The sport is truly dying in the general publics eye. They need a champion that has the size and aesthetic qualities that the average man can admire. I always though Shawn Ray and Lee Labrada exemplified what bodybuilding was about... the statuesque Greek God look. Class over mass. Most of these guys look more like the Cyclops from the Odyssey.

 

[fistfullofsteel]

It's a shame that guys like Frank Zane in his prime wouldn't even get 5th place these days and guys like shawn ray, and kevin levrone in their best shape looked better than the guy who won the Olympia but still lost.