So last night, Arash brad and I were hanging out, checking Arash’s condition 9 days out of the Arnold and of course talking bodybuilding. We had YouTube linked to the tv so we were watching and commenting on old school competitors and past contests. At some point, I mentioned that I thought Samir Bannout was often forgotten and that when I first saw pics of him in his prime, I was very impressed (Lower Lats, Christmas tree Lower back etc). Well we managed to pull up some decent video from the 83 O, and several things stood out to me;
1- Samir looked nothing like the few pics you see of him online, his conditioning was not good and he was very undersized.
2- Haney was good for his first Olympia, but nothing as amazing as he would be the following year.
3- Bertal Fox got screwed like I’ve never seen in a top level contest. It’s seriously worth finding online to see if you’re a fan Of the sport.
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Arnold Sport Festival’s official youtube page is releasing old Arnold competitions. They are marvelous.
It really is a very different show than the Olympia. I think Ronnie was the first (only?) reigning Mr Olympia to ever enter an Arnold the same year he was defending his Olympia crown. If I recall correctly, he only did it because they were giving away a free Hummer (the car!)
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yes thats true and it almost cost him 2001 olympia. i think jay deserved it but politics won as usual.
2002 olympia was even more ridiculous IMO. i still dont understand how gunter got 5th place with that unbelievable physique.
IMO, and I like Gunter, with his height and structure, he was not as complete or aesthetically good at most shows he entered as people who were initially taken with his overall impact like to think.
Ferrigno was a similar case. At 6’5 he was the “biggest” guy onstage, but he was only the antagonist in Pumping Iron because of some behind the scenes issues with Serge I believe. Ferrigno was never a real threat to Arnold or any of the real top guys despite a cover or two by Weider who used both Arnold and Lou,… to sell his magazines.
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