Vince,
Hope you get a kick out of this, I posted the following on the "Arnold owning the competition at the 1980 O" thread.
I can't vouch for validity of this rumour, but it is what I was told by someone heavily involved in the Iron scene in the late 70's/early 80's....
Enjoy:
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Politics might play a bigger part in this than we realise...
Aside from the obvious economic reasons and downplaying the conspiracy theories, Joe and Ben Weider (and the IFBB officials) might well have had reservations about giving Mike Mentzer the win because of something else, something potentially more damaging/embarrassing to bodybuilding as a whole.
They were happy to give Mike second place the year before ('79) against an immaculate Frank Zane, in '80 he was much improved: better conditioning; better posing; better presence and more mass. Whereas Zane was slightly off his '79 condition (he was slightly sunburned, blurred and a little reddened) so why didn't Mike at least beat Zane (3rd) in the 1980 Olympia?
So many questions???
Why did Arnold even enter?
Why on such short notice?
Why did TV execs refuse to air the finished footage shot by the camera crew (that were following Arnold around everywhere) on the grounds that "an obviously fixed show doesn't count as SPORT"?
I've heard it whispered by a former high level IFBB judge that leading up to the Olympia the Weiders discovered that Mike Mentzer was addicted to amphetamines. They weren't willing to risk giving the Olympia crown and thereby the ambassadorship of the sport to a man who might well spiral out of control at any time (which subsequently happened).
They did what they did in an attempt to protect the newly burgeoning popularity of bodybuilding from a major scandal. And no doubt they wished to re-exert their control/ownership of bodybuilding and the bodybuilding market.
Apparently, they were under the impression that Mike "would get the message and clean himself up" (apparently Joe's exact words). It seems Ben and Joe really felt that Mike had much more potential to go mainstream (movies, TV etc) than even Arnold (better looking, more articulate and more intelligent) and were confident that he could be groomed for greatness as a Weider Athlete. They could easily afford to offer him several times the income he was making from his mail order courses (advertised in Weider magazines) and thought he would be a better long term investment than Arnold's arrogant bully routine.
They knew Arnold was training hard (juicing) for Conan and had apparently already decided that should Arnold enter the O (always a possibility with a publicity hungry Arnold) that a tie-breaker decision in favour of Arnold over Mentzer would set them up for the mother of all Olympias in '81, which would go to Mike (presumably in another sensational tie breaker), with Arnold conceding defeat in a gentlemanly manner and endorsing Mike as his successor. (in exchange for a controling percentage of the IFBB pro contest promotion business)
About eight weeks out they found out about Mike's addiction... (which apparently wasn't much of an issue for an unhindered Mentzer) and voila! Arnold is in to do the O albeit as a dark horse last minute entry, the camera crew follow him and Platz as they prepare for the show (footage which later became Arnold's Comeback video when the TV stations refused it).
Arnold goes on to endorse Platz as his successor, the bodybuilding ideal: mens sana in corpore sano, Mike Mentzer is lost to the mists of obscurity.
Just another viewpoint to ponder, enjoy guys...
The Luke
