The Item: IIFBB Pro League Olympia Preview, Special Fitness Industry Event, Legends Update, Andrew Oye's IFBB Pro Athletes Roundup
The Scoop: Just Announced: Promoters of Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend of Fitness and
Performance -- "Where Legends Are Made" -- posted the final competitors
list of IFBB Pro League athletes that qualified to compete at the 2014
IFBB Olympia Bodybuilding Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, this
weekend (September 18-21). As reported in "Andrew Oye's Pro-Muscle
Report," the following lists represent the leaderboard results of the
IFBB Olympia Qualification Series Point System.
Mr. Olympia - Open Division Qualified Competitors
IFBB
Pro Lionel Beyeke, IFBB Pro Evan Centopani, IFBB Pro Justin Compton,
IFBB Pro Jon Delarosa, IFBB Pro Mamdouh Elssbiay ("Big Ramy"), IFBB Pro
Ibrahim Fahim, IFBB Pro K. Greene, IFBB Pro Phil Heath, IFBB Pro Dexter
Jackson, IFBB Pro Johnnie Jackson, IFBB Pro Steve Kuclo, IFBB Pro Victor
Martinez, IFBB Pro Cedric McMillan, IFBB Pro Juan Morel, IFBB Pro Jojo
Ntiforo, IFBB Pro Essa Obaid, IFBB Pro Shawn Rhoden, IFBB Pro Fred
Smalls, IFBB Pro Branch Warren, IFBB Pro Roelly Winklaar, IFBB Pro
Dennis Wolf.
Olympia 212 Showdown - 212 Division Qualified Competitors
IFBB
Pro Baitollah Abbaspour, IFBB Pro Ahmad Ahmad, IFBB Pro Sami Al Haddad,
IFBB Pro Raul Carrasco-Jimenez, IFBB Pro Guy Cisternino, IFBB Pro Aaron
Clark, IFBB Pro Eduardo Correa Da Silva, IFBB Pro Charles Dixon, IFBB
Pro Mark Dugdale, IFBB Pro Mboya Edwards, IFBB Pro Kevin English, IFBB
Pro David Henry, IFBB Pro Flex Lewis, IFBB Pro Jose Raymond, IFBB Pro
Hidetada Yamagishi.
The "So What?": The 2014 Olympia Weekend marks the 50th Anniversary of the Mr. Olympia
Bodybuilding Championships (and the second Olympia since the passing of
its creator Joe Weider). Reigning Mr. Olympia IFBB Pro Phil Heath has
touted this year's contest as the "War For 4," as he pursues his fourth
Olympia Sandow trophy. With friend and (onstage) rival 4-time Mr.
Olympia IFBB Pro Jay Cutler off the table (after a 6th place finish in
2013 and retirement speculation), Heath faces even less competition to
defend his title. Other athletes reportedly opting not to "war" in Vegas
for various reasons: elusive Evan Centopani, rookie Justin Compton and
Cedric McMillian, who, at one point, was dubbed "the next big thing."
In
the Open Division, every warrior wants something. Heath wants to keep
the crown firmly on his skull. D. Jackson wants another Sandow. Greene
wants to rise from two consecutive 2nd runner-up finishes. Martinez
wants to recreate the surge of his "close call" in 2007. Warren wants to
climb back into the Top 5. Big Ramy wants to prove an Amateur Olympia
(2012) winner can be a Pro Olympia winner. Wolf wants to capitalize on
his 2014 Arnold Classic victory. Kuclo wants to brush off the
controversy around his 2014 Arnold Classic Brasil victory. Rhoden wants
to push above that "safe zone" of 3rd to 4th place. Winklaar wants to solidify
his comeback after a motorcycle accident earlier this year. Making
Olympia debuts: Delarosa, Fahim, Morel, and Ntiforo.
In the 212
Division, Lewis wants to bolster his victory at the 2014 Arnold
Classic's first-ever 212 contest and to tie English's record of three
wins. He faces a fight from former Open Division competitors Yamagishi
and Abbaspour, as well as spunky Cisternino and the rest of the 212
mainstays of Henry, Raymond, Dugale, Carrasco and Haddad. Clark makes
his Olympia Showdown debut. Depending on which qualified athletes
compete in the other divisions: First Physique Olympia IFBB Pro Mark
Anthony Wingson could face a challenge from Sadik Hadzovic or Jason
Poston. 9-time Ms. Olympia IFBB Pro Iris Kyle defends her title. Without
2-time champ IFBB Pro Erin Stern in the mix, 3-time Figure Olympia IFBB
Pro Nicole Wilkins has to keep Candice Keene and Alicia Coates at bay.
8-time Fitness Olympia IFBB Pro Adela Garcia will attempt to tumble away
from Oksana Grishina, Tanji Johnson, Bethany Cisternino, and Trish
Warren. Bikini Olympia IFBB Pro Ashley Kaltwasser leads the pack.
Andrew Oye's Verdict: It's surprising that any athlete would miss an opportunity to compete at
this historic event. MUSCLE INK Magazine reported that the NBC Sports
Group announced a partnership to televise the 50th Annual Mr. Olympia
contest on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) in two 90-minute special
telecasts (October 18 and October 25). This marks the return of the
contest known as the "Super Bowl of Bodybuilding" to a nationwide
television audience for the first time since 1984, when 8-time Mr.
Olympia IFBB Pro Lee Haney earned his first title and Sandow trophy.
The
added TV media presence might help to increase the profile of the sport
as it showcases the hard work of physique building at professional
bodybuilding's most prestigious contest, which is part of an exciting
expo celebration of sports and fitness that draws a crowd of more than
forty thousand spectators and offers a total prize of one million
dollars for competitors across all divisions (Bodybuilding, Fitness,
Figure, Physique, Bikini). The bodybuilding competition includes many
who have also won the other prestigious contest -- the Arnold Sports
Festival's IFBB Pro Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic Bodybuilding
Championships. The Olympia Expo hosts demos and competitions in the
following activities: armwrestling, boxing, jiu jitsu, karate,
kettle-bell, kickboxing, weightlifting, mixed martial arts (MMA), kung
fu, powerlifting, tae kwon do, WCO World Calisthenics Organization
Battle of the Bars, CrossFit, wrestling, obstacle course, and strongman
(featuring WSM World's Strongest Man competitors).
The
half-century celebration of the Olympia should be a proper tribute to
Joe Weider, (called the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding") and the
champions he produced by founding the International Federation of
Bodybuilding and Fitness and the IFBB Pro League Olympia Championships.
In 50 years, a vision to highlight physical culture made physique
legends of 13 Mr. Olympia titleholders: IFBB Pro Larry Scott
(1965-1966), IFBB Pro Sergio Oliva (1967-1969), IFBB Pro Arnold
Schwarzenegger (1970-1975, 1980), IFBB Pro Franco Columbu (1976, 1981),
IFBB Pro Frank Zane (1977-1979), IFBB Pro Chris Dickerson (1982), IFBB
Pro Samir Bannout (1983), IFBB Pro Lee Haney (1984-1991), IFBB Pro
Dorian Yates (1992-1997), IFBB Pro Ronnie Coleman (1998-2005), IFBB Pro
Jay Cutler (2006-2007, 2009-2010), IFBB Pro Dexter Jackson (2008) and
IFBB Pro Phil Heath (2011-2013).
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