T
hey used to
call it “chasing
Arnold.” Back
in the 1970s in
Venice, CA,
bodybuilders
destined to never
win the Olympia
did what Arnold
Schwarzenegger
did. They trained the way
he trained and where he
trained, they ate what he
ate and when he ate, and
they basked in the glow of
his presence, all with the
desperate dream that they
could be like Arnold—look
like Arnold, feel like Arnold,
win like Arnold. They
chased and they chased,
but they never caught up to
him. Like a horizon, he was
too far beyond, always.
For a year, since he won
his sixth Sandow, Phil
Heath chased Arnold, the
seven-time Mr. Olympia.
On Sept. 16, he caught him.
PRESS
CONFERENCE
The 53rd annual Mr. Olympia
officially began Sept. 14 at 12:23
p.m. in Orleans Arena, when this
question was asked at the opening
press conference: “Where will
Ramy be this year?” And Mamdouh
Elssbiay, who moved from eighth
to seventh to fifth to fourth over
his first four Olympias, predicted
his biggest leap yet by holding up
one finger. “I promise I’ll bring
something new, never been seen
before,” Ramy elaborated. At first
Phil Heath said that he welcomed
the challenge of a ripped
300-pound “Fourth Pyramid,” but
then he U-turned: “Aw, hell, he ain’t
gonna do that shit. I’m gonna win.
I’m the dream killer. I get it. There’s
no disrespect. I expect everyone
to feel they can beat my ass. But
you think it’s the first time I heard
someone say they’re gonna beat
me? Hell, Kai Greene used to say
that, and he’s a lot better than
people up here, and I beat his ass.”
It took a while for the audience’s
40
FLEX | JANUARY 2018