(Maybe he could have, maybe not)
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WHY I DIDN’T WIN THE OLYMPIA:
By now many of you have probably asked the question:
“Why didn’t DeFendis win the Olympia?”
Here’s the unadulterated truth:
I started training when I was 10 years old when my father put a barbell in my hand and taught me how to do curls, push-ups, pull-ups and the typical basic exercises.

At 13 years old I was reading the Bodybuilding Magazines and Training twice a day (early morning before school and after school).
It was at this age where I wrote down in a black-and-white composition book,
“I WILL BE MR. AMERICA”
I started competing at 15 years old and by the time I was 16 I was training with Mr. America Steve Michalik.
We trained twice a day and did the most brutal workouts that created an incredible base from my physique.
I wasn’t on anabolic’s at that time and I ended up in the hospital twice because of the intensity and length of the workouts.
Within a few years I was winning teenage contests and I also won the open Mr. metropolitan New York. To this day I am the only teenager to ever accomplish that feat.
At 21 years of age Steve took me to Dr. Ludwig in New York.
Dr. Arthur Ludwig was a brilliant endocrinologist who had worked with champions for years.
It was at that time that I legally went on an anabolic cycle to maximize my physique so I could accomplish my goal.
Dr. Ludwig prescribed clinical dosages which allowed me to recover from those brutal workouts that continued to get even more brutal.
I would do two cycles a year. A 12 week growth cycle then 14 weeks off and then a 12 week contest cycle and then another 14 weeks off.
Over the years I captured 19 titles, including the Mr. Northeastern America, the Mr. Eastern America and the Mr. Western America in Los Angeles. In 1983.
I continued to train really hard but did not want to compete again until I knew that I could win the USA title which I had placed third in, in 1979.
I trained for five years without competing and decided to WIN the USA in 1988.
I would leave no stone unturned for I refused to settle for anything but the overall win.
Nine weeks before the contest I competed in and easily won the Mr. Coastal USA in Atlanta, Georgia.
Then on July 31, 1988, I competed in the USA in Las Vegas and WON unanimously.
My goal was accomplished!
Afterwards I made several trips to California for photoshoots with Muscle & Fitness, FLEX, Iron Man, Muscular Development, Muscle Mag, etc.
(I had 24 mag covers)
At the same time I guest posed in near top shape for almost every weekend for 7 months. (22 exhibitions & seminars)
I attempted to peak for every exhibition because I wanted to give the best I had to my fans and the promoters.
I was guest posing at under 5% body fat and 234-236 pounds.
My Pro debut was to be at the Night of the Champions in New York and the Niagara Falls competition a week afterward.
5 weeks prior to the Night of the Champions my body broke down from the 22 exhibitions I did and I became run down with an electrolyte imbalance.
I could hardly train and my body wasn’t responding. It needed rest.
I called Wayne DeMelia and explain that I would not be able to compete in the night of the champions and the Niagara pro shows.
Wayne DeMelia and the IFBB refused to let me out of my contract.
He explained to me that I would have to compete or I would lose my IFBB Pro status and be fined $5000.
I had no choice but to stand on stage at a mere 211 pounds (25 pounds below my contest condition) and smooth for the two shows that week.
It was humiliating and I had a game plan to come back so that I could win the Olympia.
After those two contests I let my body rest for six weeks and then I began my assault on the 1990 contest schedule with the game plan of winning the 1990 Olympia.
In January 1990 I was training hard and I had a major article in the French magazine “Le Monde De Muscle.”
The article chronicled many of the champions that I had trained who had won contests all over the country.
At that time a gentleman from France came to the United States and asked me if I would train him for the Mr. France contest. I obliged and he stayed with me for three weeks and we trained together. He was very appreciative and he went back to France and three weeks later won the Mr. France competition.
On April 10th, I received a slip in my mailbox for a package. I went to the post office to pick the package up and they informed me that there was no package there for me.
You see, the gentleman from France
(Paul) thought he would do me a favor and send a package of anabolic steroids to me as a thank you for helping him for his contest.
I was not aware of the package or what he was sending me but I was taking prescribed anabolic steroids from my doctor.
Three weeks later the post office delivered the package that they held for three weeks until May 2, 1990, which was the day they made steroids illegal and a felony.
I signed for the package and 10 minutes later I had 25-30 DEA Agents, Customs and Police at my door with all of the TV Stations and media to cover my arrest.
I did absolutely no jail time but I was drug tested for 5 years.
Anyone who knows the sport of bodybuilding knows that you cannot compete at a pro level, no less the Olympia level without the use of anabolics.
My bodybuilding career was over.
I walked away from the sport forever but I never stopped training and I focused on my business with Ultra Fit.
So when I post pictures and comparisons with some of today’s Champions, I do so because I never got my shot. I never got to stand on that Olympia stage and at my best I know I could’ve won at least one Olympia Sandow Trophy.
It’s not a sad story though. It was actually a blessing because the sport changed and I’m thankful that I did not get caught up in the drug abuse that it became. I never took high dosages or anything that would have hurt me, but I’m a competitor and I cannot say for sure that I wouldn’t have made that mistake and got caught up in the mess that is today’s bodybuilding.
This is my story and this is the first time I’ve told it here.
The article I’m posting is one of several hundred that was written on me when I was arrested.
I was the scapegoat.
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