Ben and Jow did al they could to make BB an Olympic sport, the rules were made to mirroe those of the Olympics to make it more attractive to the IOC...and the end of the day...it came down to the very reasons I outlined.
This in no way takes away from the monumantal effort put forth by Ben, for many many years...
This subject has been beaten to death...
There is one reason, and one reason only that BB never made it into the Olympics:
There is no athletic move to be judged as a completed movement. There is no set criteria, and no required elements.
End of story.
Funny you guys should mention this. You may remember that it was about 10 years ago, that Ben Weider actually got Olympic recognition for bodybuilding. I remember seeing it on the cover of MuscleMag International (I think Frank Sepe was on that one, in a B&W shot).
The way it was supposed to work (I think) is that, first, bodybuilding gets Olympic recognition. Then a panel votes to see if it'll hold a bodybuilding event as a demonstration game. Then they vote a second time. If the IOC gave it the thumbs-up, bodybuilding becomes an Olympic sport.
From what I remember, Ben Weider was a good friend of the IOC president at that time. When that guy retired, his replacement gave bodybuilding the axe, citing the whole steroid thing as rationale (I guess he forgot about the '92 controversy with those Chinese lady swimmers).
