I was heading out of town for a long drive (ride) so I grabbed
a dozen older BB mags stored away in the garage.
I found some interesting info concerning the Dorian vs. Ronnie
debate that seems to be popular around here.
My personal opinion is that Ronnie at his best has the better physique.
Dorian presented what he had much better than Ronnie which in a close call
might give the decision to Dorian.
1. In 1998 Ronnie said if Dorian had competed he (Yates) would have won.
(After the 1999 Mr. Olympia he was asked who would win now...
RC: That's kinda hard to say' cause Dorian, when he won took the sport to a new level.
My bodybuilding didn't allow me to win at that time. I went to a different level just as he did.
You can't really compare. It's like trying to compare a 1965 car to a 2000. You know, the technology they had back then was different.
Musclemag Int. # 244 Pg. 99
2. This one was surprising to me because it was from Peter McGough.
From his review of the 1997 Mr. Olympia in Flex Magazine.
Although he describes Yates as
chiseled and cut with lats that had a little more sweep than previously; and described Coleman's
condition as blurred...
he goes on to say that Coleman had the best back double biceps of the show, with rhomboids fighting with his lats, teres major and traps for tenancy rights.
3. I remembered vaguely that Arnold had said some negative remarks about Yates physique but didn't realize Haney felt the way he did until I read an interview over the holidays from MMI # 191
(Lee: I'm saying the man holding the Mr. Olympia title is not what bodybuilding should look like, period!
That is not bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is a nice tapering waist, it's cross-striations, it's completeness of the physique....it's a beautiful body. I don't see it in his physique. When the guy's standing there doing a lat spread, you don't see seperation in the thighs or cross-striations in the chest. You see a round, blocky waist. Tody's criteria seem to favor the powerlifter's phisique. I mean, c'mon!
How about biceps? How do you win a Mr. Olympia with a torn biceps? If a piece of my ear had been missing I wouldn't have won.
The interview is too long to include all he said about Yates but I think his comments were mainly about Lee's perception of Dorian 1996-97.
