1981 Mr. Olympia Part 2
As Franco Columbu climbed the steps leading to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, October 10th, 1981, he felt confident of victory. Having just returned from several weeks in Hawaii, Franco had put the finishing touches to both his tan and his physique as he prepared to shock the bodybuilding world by adding another Mr. Olympia title to his already impressive resume.
In Memorium - Sergio Oliva
The Bodybuilding world lost a legend on November 13th, 2012. Sergio Oliva, also known as “The Myth”, passed away at Saint Frances Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The official cause of death was a heart attack although Sergio had been in ill health over the last several years and had been on dialysis for kidney failure in the months leading up to his death.
After the 1980 Mr. Olympia, a contest now referred to as "The Sydney Affair" by those in the bodybuilding community, all eyes were on Columbus, Ohio in October of 1981. In the months following the most controversial Mr. Olympia contest of all time, the rumors of the contest being fixed had surfaced throughout the bodybuilding magazines.
At the young age of 14, I talked my parents into driving to Columbus, Ohio so I could witness the 1977 Mr. Olympia contest in person. This was the year that the movie "Pumping Iron" was released and I was one of the few bodybuilders who sought out the only theater in town playing this little-known art house film to learn about the fascinating sport of bodybuilding.
If there was ever a year when bodybuilding finally arrived, 1977 was the year. In January of 77, the movie "Pumping Iron" was released in selected theaters throughout the country. This docudrama introduced the strange world of bodybuilding to an unsuspecting public that knew little about exercise at the time and even less about muscles.
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