How can his taper be worse quality than Yates??
You have his deltoids, which was wider, larger, with much better separation. Check.
Ronnie's lats are wider and have lower origins, leading to a more elegant sweep and a less dramatic cutoff. Not to say Yates had high lats, but Ronnie's have better origins and a more graceful contour. Waist ... Ronnie's is slimmer. So you are meaning to say that his taper is worse quality since his obliques don't have quite as much detail? Damn, the obliques are hardly related to the V-taper, but ARE known to detract from it if they are too developed.
Ronnie's delts were more massive; granted, he was 30 lbs heavier than Dorian was at his best. The thing here, unfortunately for Ronnie, is highly mathematical: the taper is the differential between the delt and waist width. The thing is that the 257 lbs Dorian does have a greater differential between delt and waist width, even if only a slight one.
You are correct, that Ronnie, has genetically narrower hips than Dorian. Ok. The thing is that this is irrelevant, since this is a mathematical - not open to dispute - measure, at which Ronnie loses out. If anything, his genetically narrowerhips becomes a hindrance, since any increase in size makes it balloon to the sides, giving the midsection an awful shpe.
I disagree with you that Ronnie's delts, at the 2003 Olympia, were better than Dorian's; they were bigger, that's it. Define better? While Ronnie's delts have always been one of his strong suits, such is also the case for Dorian's. Yates deltoids - folloing the pattern for his entire body - were actually harder than Ronnie's, with more balanced development between the front, middle and anterior heads. Ronnie also struck me ashaving particularly unbalanced delts, perhaps the result of doing way too many front presses - both bench presses and front military presses. Overrall, I think that Dorian's and Ronnie's delts are evenly matched: Ronnie's are bigger; Dorian's, more balanced and harder.
I do feel the 257 lbs Dorian takes Ronnie out, when it comes to sheer taper, on several of the front poses, such as the front double biceps and the front lat spread. On the former, Ronnie is superior in muscularity and especially biceps, but loses out in symmetry because Dorian has a better shoulder-to-waist ratio, as well as more defined abs.
The waist is not capable of this sort of fluctuation from year to year.
Appositional bone growth or adipose deposition can influence the circumference of the waist. Muscle gain/loss will have little/no effect sinWhat? 
ce there are too few articulating surfaces located on the perimeter of the waist. The outstanding majority of muscles originate or insert above or below the pelvic rim.
Yes, it is. Ronnie himself admitted that he shaved three inches from his waist, from the 2001 to the 2002 Olympias. There are several factors which influence waist width: the thickness of the obliques and abdominl muscles, the amount of fat around and the shape and width of the hip bones.
Ronnie Coleman did decrease the dramatic effect of his taper incredibly, from the 2002 to the 2003 Olympias. This was done in several ways: the amount of GH he took, coupled with very heavy squatting and dead-lifting - which indirectly works the abdominal muscles; the changes made by anabolic compounds on his fat-deposition locations, and the fact that most of his increase in delt size was caused by an increase in thickness and not width. All things considered, his taper was far less dramatic than in the previous year and especially in reltion to the 1998 Olympia. This is particularly noteworthy, since Ronnie had a better taper than Dorian when both of them were 257 lbs, but the former completely lost this advntage when he ween't to a weight of 287 lbs.
Keep making stuff up though! If anything, Ronnie's waist looked larger in 2002 b/c it was roughly the same diameter, yet it was surrounding by a lot less muscle. Ronnie's abdominal distension was far worse in 2002 as well. Peter McGough even acknowledged his improvement in 2003 as far as keeping his waist in check was concerned. 2002 was one of his most distended years ever, and it was only exaggerated due to his lack of muscle.
First of all, Ronnie's waist did not have the same diameter, in 2003, as it had in 2002. Period. Maybe in 2001. Secondly, the
amount of muscle, around the waist, is immaterial to the dramatic effect of the taper, if the diameter of the waist remains the same. The
quality of the taper can be affected by the definition of the obliques and abs, but the
amount of muscle is always detrimental, for it worsens the taper.
In my opinion, Ronnie had terrible taper in 2003. Sure, his taper, from the front, was still accepatable, because his hips are naturally so narrow. Yet, the 257 lbs Dorian does have a better shoulders-to-waist ration than Ronnie, even if not much better. Not only was Ronnie's taper, from the front, worse than Dorian's, but he was also inferior in shape: Ronnie's waist was clearly concave to the sides.
Nope. The abdomen is pretty concealed in the side-chest.
In the ab/thigh Ronnie's distension has never been an issue, not even 2004.
May I remind you that he beat Dexter Jackson in the ab/thigh in 2004 too. 
The abdomen is tight in the front lat spread due to the elevation of the upper torso.
The side tricep, it would be an issue, but Ronnie would win by virtue of his superior quadriceps, hamstrings, chest, overall size, and triceps detail. An utter lack of striations in the side tricep, like Dorian, is very bad and would be immediately penalized.
I disagree. When you hit a side chest shot, you push your abdominal cavity to the front, and rest your forearms on your lower abs. Thus, the entire upper portion of the abdominal cavity is not only visible, but
purposefully made visible. The result is that Ronnie's gut distension, which is only visible, from the front, as slightly concave protusion of the abs, becomes a major liability. In fact, in all side shots, as well as in the symmetry round, this distension is a
major liability, taking away from his balance. And when you realize that this distension came with a great decrease in abdominal and obliqual defintion, it is made even worse a liability, as far as a
complete bodybuilding criteria is held as ideal.
When it comes to the mandatories, Ronnie's distension and overrall lack of hardness and details ould hinder: all side mandatories, the abs-and-thighs and the front lat spread. Dorian always had a more dramatic lat spread than Ronnie, and this superiority became even greater in 2003. The 257 lbs Dorian has a
far more dramatic shoulder-to-waist ratio, better abdominal definition and comparable lat width. Point for Dorian. In the abs-and-thighs, Dorian loses out in quad size, but compensates by having as much separations - the 98 Coleman had much superior quad separtions than Dorian, but not the larger versions - and better hardness. His midsection just destroys Ronnie's, by having better taper and abdominals that are more defined and flatter.
On the side shots, Dorian wins overrall in symmetry, due to not having a distension. In the side triceps, he also has better calves an foremarms. When it comes to the triceps themselves, they lose out in mass. But in the side triceps, Dorian's triceps has a better shape, ith a longer outer muscle belly head. Point for Dorian. In the side chest, again, Dorian wins in symmetry, due to not having a distension. He takes Ronnie out also in hardness. When it comes to the chest itself, Dorian even out with Ronnie: the latter is wider than Dorian, but Dorian's pecs are just as thick - check out the pic I've posted, one thousand times, of Dorian's most muscular.
Ronnie owns Dorian from the front.
Quadriceps,Chest,Deltoids,Biceps,Traps are far superior to Dorian's. By a f*cking mile.
That leaves the usual for Dorian: calves, forearms, abdominals.
The calves/forearms are extremities and are not taken into serious account.
The abdominals are important, but Dorian's are not significantly better.
Ronnie's are well developed, feature deep separations, perfect symmetry albeit a wide linea alba. Dorian's abdominals are more detailed and better conditioned, but their superiority is not nearly as marked as Ronnie's superiority in the MAJOR bodyparts like chest, deltoids and quadriceps, the focal points of bodybuilding basically.
Dorian has a superior lat spread and abdominals-and-thighs. Ronnie takes him out in quad size and that is it when it comes to his superiorities. Ronnie's obliques are just as thick as Dorian's, but Dorian has much better abdominal definition. His lats are comparable to Ronnie in width, ith the difference that, since his waist is smaller, his tper is far superior. . This is only a subjective point of view, my opinion, if you will, but i do think that, while Ronnie certainly takes Dorian out easily in quad size, Dorian has comparable details - something which Ronnie has on Dorian in 1998 -, but with better conditioning. And I do think that his quads are so humongous that they do overpower his upper body. Again, only my opinion, but many judges would agree, if they folloed the manuals when it comes to the overrall balance of the body. Ronnie's advantages, from the front, are restricted to chest width and quad size. In lat and delt width, they are comparable - even though Ronnie's delts are certainly thicker. When you put this in perspective, and add in Dorian's vastly superior abdominal definition and shoulder-to-waist ratio, Dorian is the superior bodybuilder from the front.
SUCKMYMUSCLE