I am contributing under the 'etc' category!
Two years ago Jay was extremely motivated to win the Olympia. He knew he had to have a bigger and better back than Ronnie and to most observers this is what he delivered. We can only imagine how hard he trained for most of the year for the 06 Olympia. It was close but Jay looked pretty good and still had better calves than Dexter and Ronnie.
In 2007, Ronnie was gone through injuries and he was unable to get anywhere near his best. Dennis Wolf trained at the wrong gym so he was not going to be a threat. The judges didn't put Dennis beside Jay so there was no direct comparison when it mattered. Dexter was his usual self and Jay has usually placed ahead of the Blade. Vic had a blemish re the law and closing a gym and upsetting members so perhaps he didn't place first because of considerations like that. Victor had a very impressive body last year.
Fast forward to 2008 and we find Jay not that motivated to train hard. Dexter took the Arnold but that wasn't the big title. He was looking better but his calves still let him down. Jay didn't worry about him. Victor was injured during the year so gone was another threat to his title. Dennis Wolf was a definite threat because this year everyone would have to pay attention to him. That is exactly what happened but for some reason he didn't seem as dominating as he was last year.
The 'dark horse' this year was Phil Heath who was saving himself for the big occasion. He amazed many a few months ago when he dominated a contest. His size, shape and proportions would take something to better.
I think Jay thought it would be fairly straight forward this year. The deal would be to dial in over a few months and blow them away with his size and shape. He would have enough cuts to hold his own. Whatever the reason, he appeared somewhat smooth at the prejudging and found himself quite a bit behind Dexter according to leaked scores. The full, thick and cut back from 2006 was a shadow of its former self. Oh, he was huge, but he had loose skin on the lower back that suggested he had lost some size. Perhaps bulking up too much stretches some skin that then hangs over the muscle. He probably had the best double biceps from the back but that was not enough to win this year. His glutes were nowhere near striated enough.
I would say that Dexter just looked better overall. Nice physique, quite big and fairly cut. Maybe the judges in the front row didn't notice his calves were missing! The abs/thigh pose probably won it for Dexter. Jay by comparison looked bizarre. Dexter had a smaller waist and a good taper to his shoulders. Jay was blocky and his abs were not symmetrical. Quite simply, Jay was carrying too much weight and part of it was fluid retention. Apparently he shed over 10 pounds between the judging and the show on Saturday night. I guess Jay thought the judges would be impressed and the title would remain his.
For whatever reason a paradigm shift occurred on Saturday night and a great physique won over a mass monster. I believe most of the competitors were happy with the result. Well, I can't imagine that Phil, Dennis or Toney were elated. All of them could have been given the title and an argument can be made that they were as good as Dexter. Unfortunately for Freeman, he has a torn pectoral that detracts from what was a huge and extremely cut physique. He even had decent calves!
From looking at the zillions of photos online and especially the comparison facility where you can bring up any two guys and run them through all the poses side by side and at the same size, I would say that Phil takes the title even though he was a bit narrow. So what, he still had a very full and cut package.
Next year promises to be a very competitive one because all the top guys feel they will be able to win it. Even Jay might have another go. Why not, all he has to do is lose about 20 pounds and come in ripped to shreds and with a smaller waistline. Thank goodness the era of the dinosaurs is over!
