To me bodybuiding is mostly about getting big. Doing it naturally, of course. So a guy like Arnold with that huge chest, huge arms and big calves is mostly what bodybuilding is all about. Along comes those silly contests and we have other standards. A guy like Paul Dillett was the best bodybuilder in the world in the early ninties but because of the way contests are judged he never won the Mr Olympia. Who cares how guys look posing on a stage for other blokes? It is how you look in the gym and walking around. Tall guys with huge arms and wide shoulders stand out and look amazing. That is what most of us wannabes want. Unfortunately the shorter guys can't get taller so all they can do is get bigger. Several small guys have done well in contests. Franco and Lee are two exceptional guys. Tom Platz, Larry Scott, Chris Dickerson and Frank Zane are not tall but won big titles.
So along comes the Mr Olympia in 1980 where it was wide open and just about everyone showed up to try to win. There was Frank Zane returning to win a fourth straight title. Mike Mentzer claimed a perfect score in a Mr Universe and believed his methods were superior ,so he should be given the title. Boyer Coe had won several Mr Universe titles and was overdue to be Mr Olympia. Chris Dickerson was hot in 79-80 winning many of the pro shows. Roy Callendar won a Mr Universe in Sydney at the Opera House in 1979 so was a favourite. Dennis Tinerino got big and cut and hoped to win as well. Casey Viator was there huge but not so cut. Ken Waller gave it a go. Roger Walker was the local champion and big as a house. He made the finals which was a good result for him. Danny Padilla was there but being short didn't help and he didn't make the cut. A pity because he should have been in the top six. Samir Bannout was there but he didn't stand out that year. Tom Platz had those huge legs but was out of proportion. Surprizingly he almost won in 81. Then there was Arnold. We wondered what he was going to look like and were surprised to see a smaller but more cut version in 1980. That set the stage for a wide open contest because there was no standout physique. Of course, Arnold changed all that when he started posing. He even cheated a couple of times and did biceps shots in rounds where he wasn't supposed to do that. Like when he was showing his triceps.
When the judges handed out 58 perfect scores in the 3 rounds this demonstrated how close the judging was. It also revealed how totally foolish and inadequate the rounds system was. The judges weren't able to separate the contestants in the rounds without comparisons. A guy comes out and looks great so he gets 20 the next guy looks just as good so he also gets 20. In other sports like gymnastics the judges get together after the first score and adjust it so that there is room for someone to score much higher. This isn't done in the IFBB that I am aware of. The rounds system should be discarded. I so hate that stand front, side, back, side and front. How the hell is anyone suppose to judge the guys and then remember how they looked so they can be rated against the others. It simply cannot be done accurately without comparisons. They can have rounds but merely to select the finalists. Comparisons should be used and this has to be thorough and complete. There is no need for a posedown. There should be no opportunity for judges to discuss the contest nor anyone else talk to the judges about the contest. That is plainly not good enough. Do the judging once and that is it. If someone missed the timing and looks better at night then too bad, the judging is over. That is the only way to have fair and honest contests. That and having a transparent system of selecting the judges in the first place. All results from all judges should be published after every single contest at all levels. It can be done because we did that in Sydney in an amateur organization that was started because of the dissatisfaction resulting from the 1980 Mr Olympia. A meeting was held at my gym and those present voted to start a new organization. We decided to present a trophy to Chris Dickerson as the Mr Olympia 1980. Someone took the trophy to California and presented it to Chris. I have no idea what he thought about it but there you are. A lot of people were not happy about what happened at the Opera House when Arnold was given the title. People booed and that is the first time Arnold was booed after a contest. We saw Arnold and Franco in our gym the next day because Franco was giving a seminar. Arnold sure wasn't the huge guy who gave a seminar at my gym in 1974.
