“Your new Mr. Olympia…” Everything led to this. Time stands still. Muscles freeze. Ears remain ever vigilant for a name, thundered from above, or just the first syllable, the first sign that bodybuilding has a new king. For a year, all streams—workouts, meals, sacrifices, dreams—led, ultimately, here. Twenty-three men entered the 2009 Mr. Olympia, and for the first time in history at least a half-dozen had a legitimate prospect of victory. Now, when but two stand at center stage, a pair no one predicted, the bodybuilding world holds a collective gasp. A year of anticipation passed, and then, over the previous three days, fed on fears and hopes, the mood moved from a simmer to a boil. Now it’s about to explode.
FRIDAY, 5:30 AM
An ambulance speeds to a stop at the Residence Inn, and paramedics race to the room of Phil Heath.
FRIDAY, 7:15 PM
The first competitor ambles down the long linoleum hall backstage. It’s Branch Warren. After a strong third-place finish at the Arnold Classic in March, prognosticators aren’t overlooking bodybuilding’s bulldozer, and yet against this year’s stacked field it’s difficult to move a name like Warren, which has never appeared in an Olympia top six, into the ranks of posedown probables. He lies on the gray carpeted floor of the pump-up pen. Within the next 20 minutes, most of the rest find their way to the locker room and lie on the floor with their feet propped on the benches before the lockers. Jay Cutler eats potatoes, Dexter Jackson rice cakes, Dennis Wolf M&Ms.
FRIDAY, 7:35 PM
Phil Heath appears in the doorway and promptly plops down next to Jay Cutler. Last year’s number two (Cutler) and three (Heath) talk quietly. As usual, Melvin Anthony is the most vocal, keeping Jackson and Dennis James in stitches with remembrances of posing music tapes made “ghetto-style” via boombox dubbing.
FRIDAY, 8:10 PM
While Anthony and Jackson munch on rice cakes (calories: 35, carbs: 7g, taste: 0), Heath breaks out a quarter-pounder with cheese, eating half and following it with banana-nut mini-muffins. “That shit’s gonna make you sick,” Anthony warns. Meanwhile, down the hall and backstage 100 yards away, competitor #1 has peeled off his camouflage pants and is getting shellacked with color and oil.
COMPETITOR #1
There are moments, few and far between, when a physique hits you like a sharp shot to the solar plexus. Such is the case when Branch Warren tenses up at center stage and it is immediately evident he should contend for not just the posedown but, possibly, after considering the 22 men who follow, the top three. At 248 and only 5’7”, he’ll win or draw every size battle, and his back has gone from a liability to an asset over the three years that elapsed between now and his previous Olympia (2006: 12th place). As always, his wheels are monster-truck-sized and tricked-out with elaborate horizontal pinstriping. His triceps and forearms lag, and he could benefit from more back and delt separation, but the Bulldozer’s abundance of density can overwhelm the senses in shot after shot. As judge Steve Weinberger tells me later, “Branch was, in a word, shocking.”
COMPETITOR #4
Victor Martinez is less about shock and more about awe—generated by pairing mass with aesthetics. In 2007, that combination was nearly strong enough for him to carry the Sandow trophy back to New York City, but knee surgery kept him in street clothes last year, and it’s all too evident this time that his legs are lacking. That and a scarcity of striations will keep the 250-pounder out of the title hunt, just as his flowing upper body mass will prevent him from falling far.
COMPETITOR #9
After he won the Arnold Classic nearly seven months prior, no description of Kai Greene, no matter how fanciful, read like hyperbole. Lats so low they swept the floor. Bis so high they scraped the rafters. More lines in his legs than in War and Peace. Though he brought the same collection of abstract parts this time, some of the fine feathering is absent. And when he stands semi-relaxed at center stage his legs are so close together they actually seem undersized (contrast with Cutler’s much wider stance). At 257, Greene still wows the crowd, but not to the extent he did in Columbus in March.
COMPETITOR #12
Nobody captures this crowd like Jay Cutler. It’s evident from the gate he is on: 271 striated pounds. He sacrificed a bit of back mass to excavate more cuts, but his quads have never been so zippered (even his rectus femoris are striped), and when he pivots for the rear shots he reveals something new—glute striations. His lower back, previously hindered by skin folds, is also tighter. Later, he tells me, “I tried to bring things I never had before because I realized that would definitely give me an advantage.” Advantage seized.
COMPETITOR #19
Phil Heath, too, had spent an entire year altering his physique, trying to seize advantages. Many, including head judge Jim Rockell, felt he deserved the Sandow last year when he tipped the scales at 227. So, if the Gift could come in 10 pounds heavier with the same stellar detailing, he was confident he would not be denied. Thursday night he’s on track for 240. Friday night he’s 227. His lats are wider, but his legs are narrower. All the lines are there, but they’re slightly shallower than they were at the 44th Olympia, and when you’re self-nicknamed the Gift you compete not just with the rest of the lineup but with altitudinous expectations as well.
COMPETITOR #23
Likewise, expectations are much higher for 2008 Mr. Olympia Dexter Jackson this time than last. The year before, he never truly believed he could win until he won, but now he’s confident he’ll repeat. Like the post office, the Blade always delivers. Though he is just off the level of crispness he displayed last year—most evident in the pose that shows the most: rear double bi—the difference is scant. Having seen the 22 men who preceded him, it seems doubtful he’ll fall below runner-up.
1ST CALLOUT
Left to right (in reverse numerical order): Jackson, Heath, Cutler, Greene, Martinez, Warren. Jackson is able to exert his width and fullness advantages over Heath, especially in the front and back semi-relaxed shots, and the Gift gets it from the other side too, overwhelmed by Cutler’s 44 more pounds, more plentiful quad cuts, and much wider clavicles. In ’08, Cutler was made to look like a (huge) box in comparisons with narrow-hipped “little guys.” This time it helps that Greene stands to his immediate left, a bit smoother and with a middle nearly as broad. Meanwhile, Warren’s wheels and grainy thickness overwhelm Martinez, but Warren is at risk of being overlooked as eyes are drawn to the trio on the left.
2ND CALLOUT
Hidetada Yamagishi, Ronnie Rockel, Toney Freeman, Melvin Anthony, Moe Elmousawi and Silvio Samuel will fight for the remaining four spots in the top 10. Yamagishi looks heavier than his 210 pounds, and, though his legs lack deep divisions, his flesh pops in poses like side chest and most muscular. At 222, Rockel is in the shape of his life, and while in the past he was lights-out from the front and lights-back-on from the rear, his back has improved dramatically.
Weighing 289 pounds, Freeman is dealing with a recent knee injury and off his best. Still, the physique he brought this year would’ve landed in the top six last year. Sixty-two pounds lighter than Freeman, Anthony has more cuts than a sushi chef—most evident in his flayed quads—but he dieted away too much—most evident in his deflated pecs. Last year, Samuel was peeled and placed seventh. This year, he’s nearly as defined but will have trouble cracking the top 10. Elmousawi lacks the width and separation (see his quads) for this callout, and Gustavo Badell should’ve been here instead.
3RD CALLOUT
This is a repeat of the first callout but in different order, and it’s notable for Heath fading somewhat and Greene hardening slightly.
4TH CALLOUT
Rockel, Dennis Wolf, Markus Ruhl, James, Badell, Freeman. Wolf is neither big nor bad, unless by bad you mean awful. He’s thinner and smoother with no improvements to weaknesses (lower lats, hamstrings, calves) and his strengths (delts, quads) have dissipated. Touted as a possible Sandow recipient, he is instead destined for the dreaded DNP (did not place). Ruhl is the biggest mo-fo in Vegas, but his hams and tris are absent and too many suspicious lumps are present.
James, who won two pro shows in the months preceding, predicted his own fate at the press conference when he said some great bodybuilders are going to place a lot lower than they’re used to because of the crowded field. (He lands out of the top 10 for the first time in eight O’s.) Just off a victory at the Atlantic City Pro, Badell’s lower body isn’t what it was a few years ago, but his upper half is, and he should’ve been fighting for single digits. (He lands out of the top 10 for the first time in six O’s.)
10TH CALLOUT
When head judge Jim Rockell calls Heath, Warren and Greene to center stage, a buzz rolls through the crowd as spectators compute the meaning. Bracketed by the two broader men, Heath appears narrow in the semi-relaxed shots, and when Greene is moved to the middle for the compulsories, the murmur rises, as it seemingly signifies Greene is rising and Heath dropping. Still, the Gift has the crispest rear double bi and side tri shots of the three, and I have him and Greene dueling for third.
11TH CALLOUT
This is the first sign that the judges may see the contest differently than me. In what will be known for the next 24 hours as “the confusing callout,” Heath returns to the lineup and Jackson takes his place at center stage in comparisons with Warren and Greene. The buzz rises. Does the separation of Jackson from Cutler guarantee a new Mr. O? Has Heath fallen out of contention and Warren risen? Rockell had prefaced the call with, “One judge would like to see…” Eight more judges sit on the panel, and hence the confusion about this trio’s significance. What is clear is that Jackson, who has the best arms but worst legs of the three, is being overwhelmed by bulk packaging but still winning shots like the front double biceps via his superior aesthetics.
12TH CALLOUT
The final callout pits the winners of the previous three O’s in a two-man duel. Outweighing him by 40 pounds, Jay Cutler simply overshadows Dexter Jackson in pose after pose. There are those who argue for the Blade’s much slimmer waistline and more pleasing lines, but it gets tough to make that argument when Cutler brings this much to the stage. It’s not only his mass advantage, he has more cuts too—most evident in the rear shots when he presents a cornucopia of ham furrows.
As they run through the eight poses side by side, Cutler’s confidence grows. He knows he has it. The crowd is on his side in pose after pose. The next to last mandatory is the abs and thigh, a strong shot for Jackson, whose midsection is perpetually on point. Cutler leans forward and pats Jackson’s right quad, as if to show the judges and the audience where to focus their eyes in the comparison to follow. Then Cutler shakes his enormous left quad and locks it in, splintering it into all the cross-striations.
But that’s not enough. No, he brings that leg up, all the way up, so his left foot is as high as his right knee, and he stomps it down on to the Orleans Arena stage—BAM!—with a violent force. And as he does, he tenses the quad again, with even more force than before, and brings up an explosion of details. That’s it, before he even hit the abs and thigh: The Cutler Quad Stomp. The stomp says: “This is my stage. This is my contest. Mr. Olympia will be my title again. My Sandow.” It’s defiant, an F U to all the doubters, everyone who wrote him off when Cutler was only 34, though he was in the midst of the longest run of excellence in bodybuilding history: 25 contests, 12 years. He stomped out all the doubts. Game over.
FRIDAY, 11:10 PM
Twenty minutes after prejudging, two competitors remain backstage. Greene sits alone on a plastic chair in the pump-up pen, still dressed only in red trunks, staring at the carpet. Nearly unnoticed, Heath lies 20 feet away, behind empty chairs and against the half-curtain, eyes closed, exhausted. Both men try to piece together what happened.
SATURDAY, 6:00 PM
Again, Warren is the first to arrive, and again he plops down on the carpeting in the pump-up pen, awaiting his fate. Seated in the locker room, Wolf jokes about placing in the top six before stating he will soon fire nutritionist Chad Nichols. James tortures others with tales of the Thai food his wife will be serving him in the coming days. Cutler and Jackson sit on opposite sides. When asked about their chances, both answer “We’ll see” with grins that belie their confidence in another Olympia title.
COMPETITOR #1
The first routine is the best of the night, and it’s delivered by a man known for hog-hunting not pirouettes. Branch Warren’s music and poses couldn’t be more physique-appropriate as he segues from dramatic shots delivered to the Conan the Barbarian theme into splintering quad quakes and grainy most-musculars as Kid Rock wails out Warren’s theme song: “American Bad-Ass.” The Texan even has his own signature move, pumping a fist as he stalks the stage. The crowd eats it up, and Warren proves you don’t have to dance to deliver.
COMPETITOR #4
Flowing to Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday” and P. Diddy and Faith Evans’ “I’ll Be Missing You,” Victor Martinez offers up a moving tribute to his sister who was murdered two months prior.
COMPETITOR #5
Melvin Anthony performs his perpetually excellent pop-and-lock moves to floor thumping R&B, concluded with full body convulsions as if 1000 volts are coursing through him before dropping into the splits. Thirteenth after prejudging, his routine propels him so high he’ll miss 10th by one point.
COMPETITOR #9
“I wasn’t really sure how far to push things with the posing, this being the Olympia,” Kai Greene admits. It’s evident he’s constraining his abstract performance art. His routine includes a backwards headstand and his usual reptilian moves, but it’s less Kai Classic and more Kai Lite.
COMPETITOR #12
Jay Cutler whips up the loudest crowd reaction by cranking out shots to Fabolous’ “It’s My Time” before segueing into The Who’s “Teenage Wasteland.” In the end, he points to the stage and mouths “My house” and proclaims “I’m back,” crunching out another most-muscular as his legions of Jay-birds bellow.
COMPETITOR #19
The most notable thing about Phil Heath’s routine is the change in his physique. He’s six pounds heavier than the night before, fuller and just as cut. The judges appreciate the difference as much as the crowd, and Heath bests Greene and Jackson in round three.
COMPETITOR #23
Dexter Jackson serves up his curves and cuts while sauntering to hip-hop. His is the fourth best score in this round, though he maintains a firm hold on second place.
2009 MR. OLYMPIA: POSEDOWN
After the top six go through their compulsories, there is a moment that requires some background. Starting at Wednesday’s meeting, competitors were warned repeatedly to not jump to the lower front stage. The drop of three feet is too far for safety. Use the stairs instead. So Cutler leaps. And then he grins defiantly, as if to say this is his stage, his contest, his title. The others follow him but each takes the stairs, and, trading poses all the way, they trail him across the stage and back to the top. In another telling moment, Heath enters a rear double bi challenge with Greene and Jackson. Though narrower than both from delt to delt, Heath’s lats are even broader than the day before and his superior detailing from calves to traps wins out. He also beats both men on judges’ scorecards this round and ties Warren for second.
SIX, FIVE, FOUR
Martinez in sixth is as predicted, but the announcement of Heath in fifth generates a cascade of boos. He was firmly in the five spot after Friday (eight points from fourth) and made up wide expanses on Saturday to end within one digit of fourth and nine from second. Judge Weinberger avers, “Phil looked great tonight. If he would’ve brought that package yesterday I don’t know what would’ve happened.” Next up, another shocker: Greene and not Warren in fourth. Scorecards show Greene was third after prejudging but fifth in both Saturday rounds.
THREE
With three men remaining, I write “BW” next to “3″ in my notepad, and yet the name emcee Bob Cicherillo calls is not Warren’s. “Dexter Jackson!” Warren pumps his fist. The Orleans Arena fills with both stunned cries and ecstatic cheers. What’s happening? It seemed only yesterday prognosticating an O’s top six was as easy as watching a couple prejudging callouts. During Coleman’s reign, you could do it a month out via a quick perusal of the competitors list. And now the reigning Mr. O has been upended by a man whose highest previous showing on bodybuilding’s biggest stage was eighth. No one is more stunned than Jackson, who, with a bronze medal draped around his neck, struggles, unsuccessfully, to quell his tears.
“I thought I had it won,” Jackson says two days later. “But third…” His voice trails off and he shakes his head. “As stunned as I was last year to win, I was a lot more stunned this year to be third. And to him [Warren], I just don’t see it.”
TWO
We pick up our story where it began. Time standing still, muscles frozen, ears vigilant, two men at center stage, Cicherillo’s “Your new Mr. Olympia…” and a pause that provides enough time to ponder that word “new.” After the three placings that preceded it, anything seems possible. Could this be the most shocking win in Olympia history? But the name we hear is not Branch Warren’s. Warren has traveled far but not that far, completing the most dramatic rise through the upper ranks during a contest in Olympia history, going from fourth to second (edging Jackson out by one digit) from rounds two to four.
In fact, Warren’s scores changed little over the two days. What happened was Greene and, especially, Jackson faltered as Heath bested both of them on Saturday’s scorecards. Heath’s turnaround ultimately falls just short of altering his payday, but it allows Warren to pass two men and squeeze into the runner-up slot. (Saturday’s scores should not together have counted twice as much as Friday’s, and, moving forward, this was rectified by the Pro League rules committee.) In the end, only nine points separate second through fifth (in contrast, 31 separate first from second and 35 separate fifth from sixth), a traffic jam which fuels debates for who should’ve ended where. I had them: Jackson (2), Heath (3), Greene (4), Warren (5), Rockel (6).
ONE
The least controversial placing is Cutler in the top spot. After a year in exile, he is again crowned the king of bodybuilding, doing so with straight firsts and becoming the first man in the Mr. Olympia’s 45-year history to take the title back after losing it. Confetti rains as the three-time Mr. O strikes a pose and the crowd roars.
SATURDAY, 9:50 PM
Backstage, Jackson barely stops long enough to pull on his warmup suit before trudging away from the scene. Warren accepts congratulations. Martinez dresses quietly while Greene has again found his lonely seat in the pump-up pen. Sitting on a sink in the restroom just off the locker room, Heath explains what happened over the past 44 hours.
At around 2:00 AM on Friday, he began vomiting and didn’t stop until the paramedics arrived three and a half hours later. Knowing intravenous fluids would end this year’s Olympia dream, he and Hany Rambod sent the paramedics away. Heath dropped 12 pounds during a sleepless night hovering over a toilet. The pre-prejudging burger and muffins were an attempt to get down any food to help regain lost fullness. After eating all he could, he estimates he was 85% by Saturday evening. “It sucks when you have a game plan and something like this happens. But to hear those boos [when announced fifth] meant a lot to me. Losing like this is going to bother me, but it’s going to fuel me too. Fuck, dude, I got fifth.” He ponders his oversized check with disgust. “I’m not fuckin’ fifth, but I was tonight.” He shakes his head. “That’s bodybuilding.” Redemption cannot wait. He’s doing the Arnold, and the next day, while most of his fellow competitors are beginning extended vacations, Heath is in the gym, blasting legs.
SATURDAY, 10:35 PM
Greene still sits in the pump-up pen, reminiscent of Coleman in 2007, unwilling to leave because he doesn’t want the experience to end. Cutler states, “In the beginning I said I wanted to win three, and here I am. It’s reality now. It’s actually a bigger accomplishment than winning the first one, coming back after being defeated and after all the things I’ve been through and trying to take my body and make it better. I think I came with my best ever overall package, both size and conditioning. I had a great team, working with Hany [Rambod] for the first time and all my training partners, and my wife helped me out more than ever. I was just physically, mentally and emotionally prepared to be on top once again. It’s very emotional, because I realized when I lost it how special it is, and I’m willing to bust my ass to stay on top.”
SATURDAY, 11:00 PM
Cutler strolls down the long hall that connects the stage to outside, and he gazes again at the Sandow, bodybuilding’s ultimate reward, and he recalls in a flash the pounding workouts, the relentless cardio, the meal after meal of food he didn’t want to eat but always did, and before he exits again his “house” in his town and steps into the desert night to greet the throng of friends and fans who await just outside, he smiles, knowing all he’s been through, all he’s lost and all he’s gained, what’s behind him now and what still lies ahead.
2009 MR. OLYMPIA
September 25-26, 2009 / Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
1. Jay Cutler ($200,000)
2. Branch Warren ($100,000)
3. Dexter Jackson ($75,000)
4. Kai Greene ($50,000)
5. Phil Heath ($40,000)
6. Victor Martinez ($30,000)
7. Ronny Rockel ($18,000)
8. Toney Freeman ($17,000)
9. Hidetada Yamagishi ($16,000)
10. Moe El Moussawi ($14,000)
11. (tie) Melvin Anthony ($4000)
11. (tie) Silvio Samuel ($4000)
13. Gustavo Badell ($4000)
14. Dennis James ($4000)
15. Markus Ruhl ($4000)
The remaining eight competitors were not placed and are listed here alphabetically.
— Troy Alves ($2000)
— Darrem Charles ($2000)
— Ahmad Haidar ($2000)
— Michael Kefalianos ($2000)
— Martin Kjellstrom ($2000)
— Joel Stubbs ($2000)
— Bill Wilmore ($2000)
— Dennis James ($2000)
