Here's an article written 6 years ago on the subject.
Reported By: René de Jong
Sunday, February 4, 2001
There are 26 days until the Arnold Fitness Weekend 2001, March 2-4, in Columbus Ohio. Held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and Veterans Memorial Auditorium, this awesome celebration features exciting events like the Arnold Martial Arts Festival, Armwrestling Challenge, and showdowns like like the Ms. International, Fitness International and Bench Press Competition.
Although all exciting in their own right, nothing packs more of a wallop during the Arnold Fitness Weekend more than the Arnold Classic, a bodybuilding competition that draws the world's best professionals (male & female) and was the original draw before it expanded to this large smorgasbord of fitness celebration! Created in 1989 by partners Arnold Schwarzenegger and James J. Lorimer, this juggernaut of a bodybuilding event has attracted thousands upon thousands of fans, and brings them back enthusiastically every single year!
So how did this extremely successful business (and personal) relationship begin between Schwarzenegger and Lorimer, and how did it evolve into such a magnificent annual event? The ARNOLD FAN sat down with the gracious Jim Lorimer recently, and discussed the seeds of their success:
TAF: (For people who may be unfamiliar with Jim Lorimer, the man) tell us something about yourself. Where do you come from and where do you live now?
JIM: I live in Columbus Ohio, and I am an attorney. My career was spent as vice president of government relations for a nationwide insurance company here in Columbus Ohio, but I've been engaged in sports promotion for some 40 years.
I was Chairman of the US Olympic Committee for Women's Track & Field in the 60's and from my promotion of track and field, I moved over to the promotion of Weightlifting and Bodybuilding.
In 1967 I ran the National Weight Lifting Championships and the Mr. America contest here in Columbus Ohio which were both very successful contest. I was Chairman of the World Weightlifting Championships here in 1970, and in connection with the World Weightlifting Championships 1970 I also ran a Mr. World Competition that year, in which I invited the 6 top bodybuilders in the world to come in to Columbus Ohio.
One of them was a young Austrian who just came over from Europe, and Arnold (Schwarzenegger) came in that weekend and he won the Mr. World 1970 competition. When he was done competing that day, he came up to me and said: "This is the best competition I've ever been in, when I am done competing in the sport of bodybuilding I want to go into the promotion of the sport, raise the image of the sport and I am going to raise the cash-prizes up to 100,000 dollars and make it a very professional sport." That evening he won a cash-prize of $500 dollars and hearing to say he wanted to raise the cash-prize up to $100,000 I said okay, but I didn't know who he really was.
Five years later, in 1975, when he won his last contest in Africa, he stopped of in Columbus Ohio on his way home to California and he said: "As I told you five years ago, I am now done competing in the sport of bodybuilding, I wanted to go into the promotion of the sport, and I want you to be my partner. So you run the contest and I will help get the athletes to help raise money." That day we shook hands and we now have a partnership for 26 years.
TAF: What made you decide to go into the "bodybuilding business" and when did you start?
JIM: Well, The National AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) knew that I had promoted national sports competitions, so they're the ones who asked me to handle a weight lifting and bodybuilding competition which was the Mr. America Contest. They knew I had some experience, so it was just their request for me to organize the competition. I found it interesting, and even tough I was employed as an attorney for Nation Wide Insurance Company I did this as a sort of a hobby. When I retired 10 years ago from Nation Wide my hobby became a full-time job and retirement.
TAF: What did you think when you saw Arnold for the first time?
JIM: I was very impressed by him, because he was fantastically well built and very intelligent. I did not know him well of course, but you could see there was something special about him. He could tell you what he's going to be doing 5 years from now, that goal-setting ability is very crucial to his success. Because even today he's always planning out some 5 years from now and that's what gives him a goal.
TAF: When was the last time you visited Arnold and Maria at home. Do you visit them often?
JIM: We're very good friends and I gave the reading at Arnold's wedding for Arnold's side of the family. We have a close relationship. He was just here in Columbus two weeks ago again, during the Inner City Games and whenever we go out we usually go out for Arnold's world premieres of his movie each year.
TAF: How did the Arnold Classic come about and how much preparation goes into the Classic?
JIM: Together with Arnold I started running the Mr. Olympia contest in 1976, and we ran that for 5 years in a row. Then, each year after that we began running again World bodybuilding championships, Mr. World and Mr. Universe Contests here in Columbus, but 13 years ago Arnold said we should establish an Arnold Classic. So in 1988 we began the Arnold Classic and it is now, after 13 years, a year round job. It takes us all year long to prepare for, because we have an Arnold Fitness weekend with 8 different competitions over the weekend, in addition to a huge Fitness Expo.
The Fitness weekend is one of the largest fitness expos in the world. There's no fitness weekend that is bigger than the Arnold fitness weekend that I know of. This year we're having 600 booths here, and we're also having competitions in men's and women's bodybuilding and a women's fitness competition. I am having 3000 martial artists come in, I am having 1000 jumpers come in, I am having 100 cheerleading dance-teams come in and I am having an International Arm-Wrestling and International Bench-press competition during the course of the weekend. So we have a huge weekend which requires a full year of preparation.
