no one was complaining, but the idea of the Olympia is that he best of the best qualify...not the 20-25 guys we've had over the last few years...increase in shows and subsequent number of qualifying spots explains it. there is always a rate of attrician of guys who opt out, get injured, sick,etc....that's a given.
Rules changed when there was no longer a Universe affiliated...the Universe became the team Universe, which we don't even have a team for anymore...
any former Mr. O has a lifetime pass....with the approval of the pro league. Of recent times, none have ever requested entry.
That means that, even thought he's sitting 2012 out, Dexter Jackson doesn't have to compete in 2013 to qualify for that year's Olympia. I thought they changed the rule, when Samir Bannout was contemplating another comeback while looking absolutely awful.
Unless I'm mistaken, the Team Universe became a pro qualifier, because the Universe was constantly being held in Muslim countries that weren't all that US-friendly. So TU class winners couldn't go to compete for a pro card.
There still is a separate World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships (also or formerly known as the Mr. Universe). It used to be that all the class winners qualified for the following year's Olympia. For example, Ronnie Coleman won his pro card at the '91 Universe, which qualified him for the '92 Olympia (where he placed "16th"). When they brought back the overall champion in '95, as there was none from '91 to '94, all the class winners got pro cards but only the overall champ qualified for the Olympia.
I asked that question, because when Dennis Wolf hit the scene, he was talking about his preparation for a pro show to qualify for the big O. I was confused, because I thought he already qualified by winning the 2005 World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships (or the Universe). But, someone told me that winning the Universe doesn't qualify you for the Olympia anymore.
