Thoughts on the Mr. O Outcome?

[Beowulf]

Did the right winner win? Was someone more deserving of the Sandow? Do people still follow it?

[Aggression]

I had Heath pegged as the winner from the moment he stepped on stage for prejudging. In my mind, he has an ideal Mr. O physique. Branch looked great too.

[Sprint]

I've always been a bit of a Jay Cutler fan, but that aside I'd like to have seen Phil Heath take it. A future Mr O for sure. A bit disappointed for Branch this time around.

[MRmichael.hooker]

I've always been a bit of a Jay Cutler fan, but that aside I'd like to have seen Phil Heath take it. A future Mr O for sure. A bit disappointed for Branch this time around.

Yeah thats about exactly my thoughts. WHen I FIRST got into bodybuilding, Jay finally beat Ronnie, so Ive always been a Jay fan. I'd like to see Phil win it, and he will. I also like Branch because he is such a hard worker, and improved everything he needed to. Great win for Jay, but a lil upset for Branch, but happy for Phil, lol

[kryptiq]

Would've liked to see Heath win he definitely came dialed in, bit of a struggle choosing but Branch and Jay fighting for no 2 in my mind. Definitely a stacked line up.

[mritter3]

looking at the pics...i thought it was phil's title...but Jay looked good as well.

[d1sc1ple]

I was watching live and was extremely unhappy with the outcome. I wouldn't have had Jay in the top three, I know he has to be there since he was defending and was ok with it but Phil came in better than ever. The guy was massive and still had a great streamlined look unlike Jay. Branch didn't show up as good as last year but he still looked great. I was really impressed by Rockel he was super dialed in. In my opinion he was better than Jay and so was dexter but it all comes down to aesthetics for me. My pics all had better "V" shape to them, where Jay has that really wide waist. Just my 2 cents.

[Stovall]

I'd like to have seen Branch take it but he wasn't as impressive as last year. Heath was dead on and I do believe he deserved it. Jay just didn't look that great in prejudging. Oh well, there's always next year.

[IronWilson]

I think Erik Fankhouser, Ronnie Rockel, And Roelly Winklaar all have physiques that should be Mr. Olympia material instead of those such as Jay Cutler, and Kai Greene.

Not to take anything away from anybody or anything, but how much farther will the mass game go?

And by the way, most of the people that do the reviews for the Olympia are complete pricks.

[Beowulf]

Why does the Mr. O have so few winners who've won it many times? Since 1965, there have only been 12 winners. 12 winners in 45 years. Is bodybuilding really a sport about dynasties and if so, why is that?

[Sprint]

Why does the Mr. O have so few winners who've won it many times? Since 1965, there have only been 12 winners. 12 winners in 45 years. Is bodybuilding really a sport about dynasties and if so, why is that?

Good question. I don't believe any other sport has such a few number of champions over such a large time frame.

[Beowulf]

Good question. I don't believe any other sport has such a few number of champions over such a large time frame.

We could conclude that the sport isn't very competitive, that there often is one athlete who is very clearly head and shoulders better than the competition. What else could explain it?

[N. Motta]

My self confessed ignorant opinion- Politics.

Which competitor can generate the IFBB or the powers that be, the MOST revenue?

Flame suit on.

[Beowulf]

My self confessed ignorant opinion- Politics.

Which competitor can generate the IFBB or the powers that be, the MOST revenue?

Flame suit on.

Interesting. Politics? Go on.

[Flash419]

I had it between Jay and Phil from the first time they walked on stage. But, Branch, Dexter and Wolf were all in great shape also. Victor and Kai were both holding water, and looked better the more they posed, but this is the O... You got to be spot on for both shows or your going to place lower. I've always been a Jay fan, but don't think anyone would have been surprised or upset if Phil had pulled out the win. He will be Mr. Olympia ... only a matter of time.

This is the first Olympia I have seen were EVERYONE was in great conditioning.. no one really blew their conditioning this year. Awesome line up and a great show overall.

House looked great... conditioning was perfect. He's young and this is his first O... Give him another few years to add more mass and he will be moving up the list. Great job House!

[Sprint]

The problem is, the winner is judged by people's opinion rather than an actual outcome, if that makes sense.

Ignoring team games, you've got tennis, golf etc where it's down to actions. If you win 6-0 6-0 6-0 in a game of tennis, then that's pretty much cut & dried. Same as if you were to win 7-5 7-5 7-5 and so on.

In golf, if you beat the next guy by a single shot, again that's pretty much sealed.

Compare to boxing, if you knock your opponent out at any point, there really aren't any arguments, whereas if it goes to the judges scorecards (as is always the case in bodybuilding) it's down to opinion & that's where the conflict comes in.

Some people like to see the more classic, streamlines physiques whilst others prefer the mass monsters.
Bodybuilding will never be as cut & dry as other sports, maybe this is why there's such a huge dominance by a select few in different eras.

Interestingly, how would today's mass monsters like Cutler do back in the mid 70's?
Reason why I ask is because Ferrigno came in a lot bigger than Arnold in the 1975 Olympia (See Pumping Iron) & finished 3rd behind Arnold & Nubret.

[AllDonePersonalTrain]

I think Phil had it for sure. I think there is something to the politics side of it. I think Jay is the face of body building at this point, and he is more marketable than Phil or Branch, so he is going to continue to win. If I was voting, Phil would have won and Jay and Branch would have been a close 2nd, with Jay slightly edging out Branch. Dennis Wolf looked good too, as much as I dont like him, he may have edged out Dexter in my opinion.

[Beowulf]

The problem is, the winner is judged by people's opinion rather than an actual outcome, if that makes sense.

It does. In this way, bodybuilding is like international figure skating, a sport full of judging "irregularities" if you will. As long as there is no genuine transparency, you will always have the potential for problems and questions about "politics".

One key question to ask is who created the Mr. Olympia and why?

[Howitzer]

Where DID the House place? I can't find it anywhere. I found a couple of nasty reviews about our man which were unbelievable, but otherwise... no mention. It pisses me off that only the top three get any coverage.

[kryptiq]

The problem is, the winner is judged by people's opinion rather than an actual outcome, if that makes sense.

Ignoring team games, you've got tennis, golf etc where it's down to actions. If you win 6-0 6-0 6-0 in a game of tennis, then that's pretty much cut & dried. Same as if you were to win 7-5 7-5 7-5 and so on.

In golf, if you beat the next guy by a single shot, again that's pretty much sealed.

Compare to boxing, if you knock your opponent out at any point, there really aren't any arguments, whereas if it goes to the judges scorecards (as is always the case in bodybuilding) it's down to opinion & that's where the conflict comes in.

Some people like to see the more classic, streamlines physiques whilst others prefer the mass monsters.
Bodybuilding will never be as cut & dry as other sports, maybe this is why there's such a huge dominance by a select few in different eras.

Interestingly, how would today's mass monsters like Cutler do back in the mid 70's?
Reason why I ask is because Ferrigno came in a lot bigger than Arnold in the 1975 Olympia (See Pumping Iron) & finished 3rd behind Arnold & Nubret.

Very interesting post, and I do agree that body building is a matter of the judge's opinion since there aren't clear guidlines followed regarding how contestants need to look. Some will take the massive guy who's decently proportional over the guy who is built close to perfection in terms of proportionality and my guess is that's why these poor guys need so many chemicals and such poured in to their bodies.

IronWilson- I don't know how dedicated you are to following body building but Erik isn't there just yet. The House has built an awesome body but he has some work to do before being a top candidate, as for Roelly and Ronnie they both have possibilities if come as well prepped as Heath did.