http://www.musculardevelopment.com/team-md-blogs/344-the-mcgough-report/5227-the-big-finnish-quirky-memories-of-the-1992-mr-olympia.htmlTHE BIG FINNISH
Quirky memories of the 1992 Mr. Olympia
By Peter McGoughIn a recent thread posted on md online by
bigmikecox 
there’s a video these peepers have not seen before taken at the 1992 Mr. Olympia contest staged in Helsinki, Finland on Saturday, September 12th.
Much of the footage is shot backstage in the pump-up room and in some segments my good self is visible. I’m the hombre in the green jacket and I’ve never even been to Augusta and my idea of a good drive is tootling along Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara. In fact my presence being captured backstage was a matter of judicious timing because I was eventually thrown out of the area. It seemed helping to oil up fellow Brit Dorian Yates outraged one official who was of the opinion that other competitors had been (and I quote) “emotionally affected” by the sight of an employee of the IFBB’s official journal (which I then was) helping to prepare the precontest favorite for battle. Not wanting to pour oil on troubled waters I took the insinuation as … well, a sort of smear campaign. But with Yates winning I content myself with the thought that I must have done a pretty slick job.
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The Helsinki enterprise was a watershed event in being the first Olympia contest since 1982 to be held without Lee Haney, who had retired after the 1991 flex-out, having secured his eigth Sandow.
With the title up for grabs, Yates, after a sometimes puzzling prejudging involving some surprising comparisons (maybe with Haney’s absence there wasn’t a focal target to aim for), took all four rounds to emerge as the ninth man to be crowned Mr. Olympia. He also took bodybuilding’s first ever $100,000 check, which in the post contest flurry he somehow lost, although he didn’t mislay his Sandow: a forgetful state of muscle memory affairs that tells you all about The Shadow’s priorities.
Big Lou Ferrigno, after a 17 years absence from competition hulked back into action, and made his comeback at age 40 (which back then we seemed to think was old: not so today). With 298 pounds on his 6’5” frame the man who is synonymous with green didn’t pick any up in Helsinki as he finally finished 12th, although one judge had him first and another had him third.
The surprise of the contest was rookie pro Kevin Levrone securing a very definite runner-up spot thanks in part to voluminous thighs and hams that had more grooves than an old 45 record, and delts that looked like the epaulets favored by Third World dictators. It was the first time I really had any contact with the winner of New York’s’ Night of Champions four months previously and I found him (as indeed he remains to this day) a very cool customer. How cool? Well, he arrived in Finland confident he could make a strong case for himself. Unfortunately the strong case that contained his posing music and trunks did not make its way to Europe and was last seen heading toward South American climes. Undaunted the indomitable Levrone strode out at the Saturday finals to the strains of an unfamiliar tune and ad-libbed his way through his routine, executing it so adroitly you’d have thought he’d been practicing it since his pre Maryland Muscle Machine days.
The 1992 Olympia had a unique aspect to it, as it was held in Helsinki’s Ice Hall in which a full blown hockey match was staged between the prejudging and finals of the Olympia -- which put a new spin on bodybuilders being prone to skate on thin ice. In the end as befits an emporium with Ice in its title the place was bloody freezing and one’s tootsies were colder than a penguin’s.
One abiding memory I do have of the 1992 Olympia is the posing routine of sixth placed Mohamed Benaziza. Halfway through the music stopped and he rhythmically flexed his left pec, in time with an accompanying bass drum soundtrack miming his heartbeat. It’s an eerie recollection given the fact that precisely three weeks later Momo’s heart would stop beating altogether as he passed away hours after winning the Dutch Grand Prix from the effects of severe dehydration.
With reference to Yates victory it was quite an experience to watch a friend I had known for seven years being officially declared the best in his sport. However when his hand was raised in victory I kept to my long held belief that if you’re in the press section you’re not there to be a cheerleader or give an indulgent commentary to all within six rows of you, and simply scribbled into my notebook, “1st, Dorian Yates.” And in reviewing that notebook the comings and going around that Helsinki Olympia (the last was one held outside the United States) were pretty memorable and if you want to hear more let us know.
Peter will be back next week and every Wednesday looking at the world of bodybuilding like only Peter McGough can do.
