THE WOULD-BE
CONTENDERS
Although there were only 12
competitors, the fight to muscle
into the vaulted top five was so
fierce that two crisply conditioned
Europeans were stranded out of
the money. At 45 and diabetic,
Ronny Rockel of Germany has
experienced a career renaissance
in the 212 division, 14 years after
his pro debut. He showed some
minor edge blurring, but his
corrugated lower back proved
he brought the cuts, and he was
justly rewarded with his highest
Vegas placing since a sixth in
the 2010 Mr. Olympia. With his
wispy waist and broad shoulders,
Milan Sadek of the Czech Republic
has the most classical physique in
the 212 class. He makes a great
first impression with a V-shaped
front double biceps, but at 5’7½”,
he’s a tall 212er and appears rangy
in some poses. Classic physique
may be Sadek’s ideal home. But in
his 212 Olympia debut, he missed
the top five because of another
O rookie.
Derek Lunsford wasn’t merely
an O rookie. He had won the USA
Championships only seven weeks
earlier. The Indianan was fourth
after Friday’s pre-judging but
made a rookie mistake with his
absence of oil on Saturday and
slipped to fifth. Still, Lunsford
showed a pleasing combination
of size and shape and boundless
potential at age 24, just 28
months removed from his first
bodybuilding show. (Jose
Raymond flexed in his first
contest the year Lunsford was
born!) By contrast, 42-year-old
David Henry, in the twilight of
a remarkable career, was
in O No. 12. Though he lacked his
trademark spaghetti striations,
Henry still crunched the
freakiest most-muscular
in the 212 division.
THE TOP
CONTENDERS
“I came here for one reason—to
put a nix on the six,” Raymond
good-naturedly quipped at the
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FLEX | JANUARY 2018
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FLEX
LEWIS