Thank you ! someone who gets it .
Dorian on Nasser in 97
Q ] And likewise in 1997, when Nasser El Sonbaty came second?
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Nasser from the front was phenomenal and in some poses from the front there is no doubt he beat me. But from the side he is very narrow and from the back there is no comparison really. You have to look at it logically. Let's say he beat me in the front relaxed pose and the front double bicep.
I will give him this. Did he beat me in the side triceps? No. In either of the back poses? No. Abs and thighs was close. So no, I don't think he deserved to win although he did look very good that year. But he looked good from certain angles. Some physiques you can't judge from a photograph; you have to be there.
Everyone who sees my physique in person always comments on how much better I look in person than in pictures. That's because my physique is thick and developed from all angles. From the front, from the back, from the side, standing on my head: it doesn't matter. Everywhere is fully developed from every angle. And this might not show in one-dimensional photos. When you turn somebody to the side and they are twice as thick as everyone else, then that shows up.
Nasser on Dorian in 97:
Q ] Having controversially lost the 1997 Mr. Olympia title, when many people thought you should have won, how did you take this result and why do you think the judges placed you second?
Yes definitely. That is a fact (I should have won the 1997 Mr. Olympia). When I did not receive the Sandow in 1997 I realized that there is no fair competition (in pro bodybuilding). I realized it earlier but, again, in 1997 it was more obvious than ever before.
In 1994 I came in second at the Night of Champions in New York City. I think that I should have won that specific show, but they let Mike Francois, as the reigning USA champion, take the title.
I was just the unknown, or better, the "unimportant" guy from Europe. The title stayed in the U.S. and Nasser went back to Europe. Besides, another European called Dorian Yates was already holding the Mr. Olympia title.
And to come back to 1997 (Mr. Olympia), Flex Wheeler came to me after the prejudging (which was on a Friday, so that they had the finals on Saturday - in order for them to generate more entrance ticket money in Long Beach, California) and told me backstage if I knew that they would not give me my very deserved title. I did not say too much because I hoped that he was wrong. But as we all know, Dorian Yates won the Olympia again, the very next day.
He won despite a huge belly (looking like he was pregnant in the sixth month), a waist like a drum, a torn up left biceps, a freshly torn left triceps, a quad tear left, a quad tear right, a torn right hip.
He won it with a perfect score, which was just unbelievable. This was a completely staged outcome and the biggest bodybuilding robbery of the 20th century by the clique of judges who "judged".
I also have to say that some judges had Dorian Yates even in third and fourth place, because about 13 judges judged officially. I think you just use seven of the score sheets. But these judges' (who scored Dorian lower) score sheets had not been used and some of the judges' had then been removed from the judging panel because they did not produce what was expected of them to produce.
There are multiple reasons why I did not win. Some judges did not want to upset their friend Dorian and they did not want him to go out of bodybuilding with a defeat after all his injuries and tears. They did not want to give another non-U.S. guy the most prestigious title in bodybuilding because it would underline the U.S. inferiority in bodybuilding compared to non-U.S. athletes.
Then definitely another reason is that I am so outspoken and not just an order follower. That I say how it is, and do not brown nose and make phone calls in order to "secure" a placement like so may others who play the official tough guy.
I have no problem calling people up, but not for the sole purpose of placing here and there in a certain spot. And I am, for too many people, far too educated and too intelligent. And they realized I could be a danger to them if I was the new titleholder.
And last but not least, when people saw my body they figured they couldn't achieve that. Before doing this they would rather be dead. So I was also physically too freaky and too big, even for pro bodybuilding. And I was also critical about judges and co-competitors and did not deny it when I was questioned about that.
[ Q ] You say your physique was too freaky and too massive; sounds like you were ahead of your time. How would you personally describe your physique and just what made you the best bodybuilder onstage at the 1997 Mr. Olympia?
The best proof of my superior physique over everyone else's physique can be seen on the 1997 Olympia tape. This says it all. But I would still like to make some statements.
I had, compared to 1997 Mr. Olympia title winner, Dorian Yates, the better built and the better, god given genetic structure with even nicer looking veins. I did not have one torn muscle like he had so many, many torn muscles. My body is more proportioned and more, way more symmetrical.
I had the better waist (also the best V-taper, shoulders/waistline), better and tighter abs, paper thin skin, better triceps, better biceps, better shoulders, better chest, better hams, and better quads. I was tighter, harder and fresher in appearance (because I did not have a couple of week-old triceps tears which had not even been attempted to have been fixed surgically, otherwise Yates wouldn't have been able to step on stage).
Then I heard the big BS - "... but Dorian had him (Nasser) from the back." The only body part I give Yates when he supposedly had me was his tremendous lower back development but not his thickness or back width.
The Olympia is not a lower back contest. An Olympia title is not to be given out to the best lower back - otherwise why do all of us still train all of the other body parts?
My general opinion of that show, the 1997 two-day Olympia, is that I got robbed live in front of thousands of people but with no consequences for anyone but me and a few judges who did not judge according to that which was expected of them, that what was suggested to them.