We produce some great natural bodybuilders down under. However, the problem is, as soon as they start winning a few shows they disappear off the radar.
Australia has never produced a Mr Olympia or an Arnold champion ( the only two tournaments that matter).
What is going wrong down-under?
Are Aussies just more interested in the beach and babes, and less concerned about building a freaky physique?
I'm not going to get involved in all the racial BS on this thread, but as far as the reason that us Aussies are not doing so well in Pro BBing, well, I think that was answered somewhere else on this thread. We are a small population, so therefore the odds are against us producing Mr Olympia's every year. For the amount of population that we have, I think we have done quite well, as per the list of champion Aussie BBers posted on this thread.
Anyway, at that level, politics is a big part of how successful you will become. I don't believe that there will ever be another Mr Olympia that doesn't end up moving to the US. Dorian will be known as the last "foreigner" to win a Mr Olympia. The Olympia has really become a boring show. Three winners in around 20yrs. Wow, how exciting. Added to that is the fact that it is always held in the US. It was a much better show when it traveled around the world. As a contest, it's shit IMO.
As far as the state of BBing in Aust is, well, to be honest, I reckon it's a bit of a mess. Too many shows, too many classes, not enough competitors. Our comps over here are rewarding mediocrity, It's terrible. I went to a show on Saturday that had 50 competitors. It had 23 classes. Every second person won. WTF? It was ridiculous. There are no real contests here anymore, just line-ups of 2-3 if you are lucky, quite often just one competitor per class.
Our BBers are not made to work hard enough IMO. They just walk up & win. We have 6 BBing federations here. Each one has National titles, each one has weight/height classes, so in theory, you can have around 40 people a year running around saying they are Mr Aust, & that's just the blokes! The women have physique, figure, fitness & now this fucking wanky Sportsmodel/Glamour/Bikini classes. What a fucking nightmare they are!
We have you bloody Yanks to thank for those bullshit classes! Thanks very fucking much! Do you guys really watch that shit? What on earth has it got to do with BBing?
Anyway, another reason that we are treading water over here is that we have no publicity or promotion for our BBers, as in a decent magazine. All we read is what you guys are doing. No offense, but who gives a fuck? We want to know what's going on in our own Country, not yours. Our BBing publications over here are a joke! I will name them: Ironman, MuscleMag, Muscle & Fitness & Flex. They put in around 4 pages of Aussie content if we are lucky. It's a bloody disgrace.
Well, I'm doing something about it. Today I take the very first issue of Hardcore Aussie Muscle to the printers. This is a brand new Aussie BBing magazine. And guess what! It's only got comps & profiles on Aussie BBers. It's made here in Melb & will hopefully become the voice of Australian BBing. If you win a comp, we'll be there to report on it. It's like nothing that you have ever seen before! I'm gonna go out on a limb & say that it's the best looking magazine that you have ever seen, better than the ones you have in the US!
Our website is up & running, although we have yet to get the forum & the gallery operating, but at least you can have a look at what the magazine is all about. It would be remiss of me not to mention Rocco Oppedisanno's "Muscle Australia" magazine. It was awesome & to this day is the only decent Aussie magazine to be published. It finished back in the 80's, that's how long it's been since we had anything decent to read over here!
It's taken me 20yrs to get around to it, but here it is. I hope you enjoy it.
www.hardcoeaussiemuscle. com.auCraig Lucas. (Outlaw53)