Chapter five. The 60s/70s.

Mr. Olympia

We turn now in the best period of the bodybuilding history. In 1965, Weider brothers created the competition of Mr. Olympia. As Schwarzenegger will say in an interwiew in the film Pumping Iron (1977), the idea was to group winners of IFBB Mr. Universe and other major competitions and to decide who was the best of them.

The winner of that year was Larry Scott, who will win also in the next year. In 1967, '68 and '69 the winner was the cuban Sergio Oliva.
Sergio was known as "The Myth": a perfect physique, with large shoulders big arms and chest and an incredibly tiny waist. The '68 Mr. Olympia edition is one of the strangest in the story: the only competitor was Sergio Oliva.

Larry Scott won IFBB Mr. Universe in 1964. After the winning of 1966 Mr. Olympia, he abandoned competitions.

Sergio Oliva

Sergio Oliva - The "Myth".

Sergio Oliva wanted to escape from Cuba and so decided to become "an international-caliber athlete and seek political asylum while competing abroad. That's exactly what he did in 1960, when he was a member of the Cuban weightlifting team at the Pan-American Games in Kingston, Jamaica". ¹

He turned to bodybuilding and he won the competitions of AAU Junior Mr. America, IFBB Mr. World, IFBB Mr. Universe and, as I've said, Mr. Olympia. He took part to all international competitions - of the different major federations, AAU, IFBB, WABBA and WBBG - from 1964 up to 1985. Sergio Oliva is a patrol-man, and he still works in the police of Chicago.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

But the greatest champion of these years came from Thal, a small austrian village near Graz. His name was Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was born in July 30th, 1947 and after few years of training, he won the competition of Mr. Europe Junior in Stuttgart (Germany) in 1965.
At the age of 19, he went to London to take part to the NABBA Mr. Universe contest. The winner was Chester (Chet) Yorton, but Arnold finished second.

Chester Yorton. Photo of 1967.

In 1967, '68, '69 and '70 Arnold won the competition of NABBA Mr. Universe. In 1968 and he went to Miami and to compete in IFBB Mr. Universe and won also this important competition in tall class. The overall winner of 1968 edition was Frank Zane.
The year after, Arnold won also the overall title in the same competition, this time held in New York, and decided to compete in Mr. Olympia contest. The winner, as we have just said, was Sergio Oliva, but Schwarzenegger finished second.

Sergio Oliva in one of his classic poses. Note the separation beetwen quadriceps and hamstrings.

As he will write in his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (1^st edition, 1985), he wanted to proof to be the best bodybuilder in the entire world. The three most important competitions of that period were NABBA Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia and AAU Mr. World. In 1970 these competitions were made in the same month.
Arnold, who migrated to USA, decided to go to London to compete in NABBA Mr. Universe and he won. Then he came back to Colombus, Ohio (USA) to win the AAU Mr. World title.
Second classified in that competition was Sergio Oliva, who was not at his top conditions. Probably, Sergio tought to win Mr. World and then to compete in Mr. Olympia at his top, but he didn't think that Schwarzenegger would have been there.
Arnold was excited of this victory, and he competed in Mr. Olympia as a winner. This mental condition was a very effective weapon against Oliva, who finished second also in Mr. Olympia contest in New York.

In the same year Schwarzenegger played the role of Hercules in the very poor film Hercules in New York, in which the biceps of Arnold are probably the best thing...

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Mr. Olympia contest.

In 1971, Mr. Olympia moved for the first time in history out of New York, and precisely in Paris (France). Also this year the winner was Arnold Schwarzenegger. The '72 Mr. Olympia edition in Essen (West Germany) was one of the most controversial in the history of bodybuilding. Sergio Oliva, at his top condition, was relegated in 2nd position and the winner was one time more Schwarzenegger. Many people think that the real winner was Oliva.
Also '73 and '74 edition of Mr. Olympia were won by Schwarzenegger.

Lou Ferrigno

1974 edition of Mr. Universe in Verona (Italy) was won by Lou Ferrigno. He was probably the biggest bodybuilder in this period, with a weight of 125 kg (275 lbs.). He became famous because of the series of Hulk in which he was the big green monster. Like Schwarzenegger, also Lou Ferrigno played the role of Hercules in two (poor) italian films in early 80s.
Lou Ferrigno won two times IFBB Mr. Universe ('73 and '74), but never Mr. Olympia. His last competition was Mister Olympia Master in 1994, in which he finished 2nd and the winner was Robbie Robinson .

Lou Ferrigno finished 2nd in 1974 Mr. Olympia and 3rd in 1975 Mr. Olympia.

1975 Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia - Pumping Iron

1975 edition of Mr. Olympia and IFBB Mr. Universe are probably the most known in history, because they were the subject of the film Pumping Iron (1977) by George Butler.
This film won also a price as best documentary in Cannes Festival and is divided in two parts: in the first, the subject are the competitors of IFBB Mr. Universe: Ken Waller, Mike Katz and Robbie Robinson. In the last, the subject are the competitors of Mr. Olympia: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Lou Ferrigno, Serge Nubret and Ed Corney.
Pumping Iron is not merely a documentary about the competitions, but also a series of interview to the athlets, and a film about the trainings and the life of these champions.
1975 edition of Mr. Olympia was won by Schwarzenegger (heavyweight class and overall title). Franco Columbu, an italian bodybuilder from Ollolai in Sardegna, won the 200 lbs. class.

Serge Nubret. Second classified in 1975 Mr. Olympia (over 200 lbs. class).

Franco Columbu

Franco Columbu was a discrete boxeur (3rd classified in italian championships as lightweight) and a very good weightlifter (world champion). During the 60s, he went to Munich (at the time, in West Germany) and there he knew Arnold Schwarzenegger, who owned there a gym. Franco and Arnold stayed for a long time in Germany, and they won also the german championship of weightlifting (in separate categories).
In 70s, they migrated to USA. Arnold was already a famous champion of bodybuilding, while Franco not yet. But in a very short time, he won all the most important competition of bodybuilding: Mr. World, Mr. Universe, two consecutive times Mr. Olympia in 200 lbs. class (1974 and '75) and two times overall Mr. Olympia (1976 and 1981).

After the winning of 1975 edition of Mr. Olympia, Schwarzenegger said that he wanted to abandon competitive bodybuilding. He was already an actor in B-series film and a business-man.
Also Franco Columbu, after the winning of 1976 edition of Mr. Olympia, said that it was his last competition. Both of them were wrong!

Franco Columbu, probably the most famous italian bodybuilder in history. This is a photo taken at his victory in IFBB Mr. Universe in 1970.

Frank Zane

In 1977, '78 and '79, the winner of Mr. Olympia was Frank Zane. He was a professor of mathematics, who started competion in 60s. He was the only one who defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger in IFBB Mr. Universe ('68 edition). While Schwarzenegger and Columbu were massive, the particularity of Zane's body were the details of his muscles, the so-called definition, and the simmetry. Zane semeed unbeatable, but the story was different.

1980 Mr. Olympia

Lineup of the 1980 Mr. Olympia. Frank Zane is the second from the right (bottom). Mike Mentzer is the second from the left (bottom), next to Zane. Schwarzenegger is behind Zane (top).

1980 edition of Mr. Olympia was the most controversial competition of bodybuilding history. In 1979, the winner of over 200 lbs. class was Mike Mentzer, a bodybuilder from Pennsylvania, USA. He was the first in history to win IFBB Mr. Universe with the maximum score of 300 points in 1978.
Mike Mentzer weighted 95 kg in 1979, but he worked an entire year to prepare himself for Mr. Olympia. He came in Sydney (Australia), were the contest had place, with a weight of 102 kg.

Mike Mentzer. He created a revolutionary method of training, the so-called "Heavy Duty".

Another good bodybuilder of that year's edition was Chris Dickerson, who will win the '82 edition of Mr. Olympia. There was naturally also Frank Zane, who wanted to win the competition for the fourth time in row.
There was also Schwarzenegger, who decided to return to competitions. As we have just said, Schwarzenegger was an actor of B-series films, but in 1980 he had the first intersting proposal: the italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis selected the austrian bodybuilder to play the role of Conan the barbarian (1982).
So, he started training to return at his top conditions (Conan, being a barbarian, would have been very massive). He decided to take part to Mr. Olympia contest, but his body was not the same of 1975 edition: he was smaller and less impressive. In spite of this fact, he won the competition. Many people, who saw the competition, said that Arnold would have been 4^th or 5^th. The controversial was that some judges were german and Schwarzenegger seemed to be favourite.
Mike Mentzer finished 5^th; he probably would have won the competition and decided to abandon bodybuilding, and actually did it.
A documentary about 1980 Mr. Olympia is The Comeback.

Mike (behind) and Ray Mentzer (front). The only brothers who won Mr. America.

1981 edition of Mr. Olympia was won by Franco Columbu, who, like Arnold, returned to competitions after five years of assence.

Franco Columbu at his top conditions. After bodybuilding experience, Franco studied in the USA to became a doctor. Also Schwarzenegger studied marketing in the same period.

Other good bodybuilders of this era

Talking about the 60s/70s we must mention a large number of bodybuilder that never won Mr. Olympia, but, in spite of this, they were very popular in that time. Some of them, like Robinson and Beckles, will continue to compete for a lot of years.

Robbie Robinson. He was born on May 4th, 1946. He won IFBB Mr. America and Mr. World in 1975. He won IFBB Mr. Universe in 1975 (in middleweight category) and the Overall Mr. Universe in 1976.
He was featured in the film Pumping Iron as one of the competitors of Mr. Universe '75. Winner of the first Night of Champions in 1978 and two times winner of his category in Mr. Olympia in 1977 and '78 (overall won by Frank Zane). As a professional bodybuilder he won 9 IFBB competitions, and his last competition was 2001 Master Olympia, in which he placed 4^th. He won the first Master Olympia in 1994 (2nd placed was Lou Ferrigno) and the NABBA Pro Mr. Universe in 1981.

Albert Beckles. He was born on July 14th, 1930 in Barbados. He abandoned competitions at the age of 62 winning all but the Mr. Olympia. He probably won more than every other bodybuilder in history: Mr. Universe NABBA 1967 and '71 as Medium, Mr. Europe 1970 and '73, Mr. Universe IFBB 1971 and '73, Mr. World AAU 1971, Night of Champions 1982 and '85, IFBB World Pro Championships 1982 and '84. As a professional bodybuilder, he won 7 IFBB competitions; the last was 1991 Niagara Falls Pro Invitational at the age of 61 ! He placed 2^nd in Mr. Olympia 1985, which was won by Lee Haney.

Ken Waller. Another star of Pumping Iron. He won 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe in Pretoria and other major competitions of other federations: AAU Mr. World and NABBA Mr. Universe. He won his category in 1976 Mr. Olympia.

Mike Katz. Mike Katz is another star of the film Pumping Iron, being one of the top contendents of Mr. Universe '75. He finished 4^th, and he's famous for the scene in which he searches his T-shirt, which was stolen by Ken Waller. Winner of IFBB Mr. America 1970 and Mr. World 1972, he placed 2nd in 1976 Mr. Olympia in Heavyweight category.

The women

This chapter was concerned only about male bodybuilder because up to 60s there were no competitions for women. In 1966 NABBA sponsored the first Ms. Universe contest for women (the so-called Ms. Bikini). Also Frank Zane's wife, Christine, won this competition in 1970. In 1980 IFBB created the most important female competition: Ms. Olympia. We will talk about this competition in the next chapter.

Links

Other links available in the gallery.

Notes

¹ From the official website of Sergio Oliva.

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