The 2010 Mr. Olympia

Phil Heath and Jay Cutler last men standing at 2010 Mr. Olympia / Bill Comstock

Now it can be written. Now it can be uttered without fear of rebuke. For years, as Ronnie Coleman collected the Sandow trophy each autumn, it seemed Jay Cutler, his greatest rival, would be denied his place in history. And when Jay got one and was looking to build a legacy, many felt he didn’t deserve his repeat. The third, in 2009, was retribution after losing the year before. This one, though, Sandow number four, elevated him to where only four other bodybuilders—Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, and Ronnie Coleman—went before him. Four or more. This one was the dynasty-maker. Backstage, center stage, up-close and personal, this is the inside story of how the 46th Mr. Olympia begat bodybuilding’s fifth dynasty.

SEVEN YEARS BEFORE

It’s April 5, 2003, in Boulder, Colorado, the time and place where 23-year-old, 192-pound Phil Heath quietly wins the first contest he enters, the NPC Northern Colorado. The show’s guest poser, Jay Cutler, has recently won three pro contests, including the Arnold Classic, and he is widely considered the favorite to take that year’s Mr. Olympia. (He won’t win it for another three years, the conclusion of a frustrating five-year apprenticeship he spends as the world’s number two bodybuilder.) The unknown neophyte and the world-famous two-time Arnold champ shake hands, and Heath, approximately 100 pounds lighter than his idol, says what countless thousands of other competitors think but never have any realistic hope of doing, “I want to be up there with you one day—me and you on the Olympia stage.” Yeah, sure.

FIRST CALLOUT 

Head judge Jim Rockell calls them out in numerical order: Branch Warren, Dexter Jackson, Phil Heath, Jay Cutler. With the latter two dueling side-by-side, here’s how I saw the four relaxed shots and the eight mandatory poses, mano a mano, 245-pound Heath versus 260-pound Cutler.

◾️ Give all four relaxed poses to Cutler, who simply takes up more space, but the front shot is now close, and he wins the two side shots by rotating his torso more to exploit his size.

◾️ Some will argue Cutler’s wider lats take the front double biceps, but I favor Heath’s slimmer waist and superior arms.

◾️ Front lat spread is a shockingly easy call. Cutler presents a wider but flat canvas, while Heath’s superior pec, delt, and arm thickness win out.

◾️ Side chest goes to Heath, who has fuller hams and greater upper body roundness.

◾️ Rear double biceps is similar to the front shot. Cutler is not far off his peak; his hams are carved. Heath reveals deeper back divots, but not as many fine lines as usual. A bit crisper and Heath would take this shot without question, but I’ll leave this one a question mark.

◾️ No question about rear lat spread. Give it to Cutler’s size.

◾️ Side triceps is a strong shot for Mr. O, but slightly stronger for Heath.

◾️ Cutler’s quads are not the zipper collection they were last year, but they’re still good enough to win him the abs and thigh shot.

◾️ Heath isn’t dry enough to fully splinter his pecs, but Cutler has even more trouble turning his flatter pecs to spaghetti. The crab most muscular [hands in front] is close, but no one can touch Heath’s hands-on-hips most-muscular.

That’s four relaxed poses to Cutler, five mandatories to Heath, two mandatories to Cutler and one tie. Of course, judges don’t score every pose individually. It’s the totality of the two physiques. In my opinion, Heath has the superior body today, and this is, in part, evidenced by his edge in the eight mandatories. Still, one can argue for Cutler’s broader canvas. Cutler has better quads, calves, and shoulder/lat width; Heath has better arms, hamstrings, and a slimmer waistline. Their conditioning is similar, with neither at his best but neither far from it. The greatest difference remains structure: Cutler with the wide clavicles and bulk packaging, Heath with the slim hips and pleasing lines. Apple versus orange.

SECOND CALLOUT 

For a year, Kai Greene (fourth in his Olympia debut the year prior) had waited for his name to be one of the first announced again, so he could again battle for bodybuilding’s ultimate title. But this time he stands and watches four others flex in the first callout. His is amongst the five names called for the second group, and his murky conditioning is evident. Greene dropped weight furiously over the previous two days and came in at 268, but this still looks to be 10 pounds too many. His cartoon-like dimensions can overwhelm others in the front and rear lat spreads, but his usual mélange of lines has vanished from his back and chest. When he hits an abs and thigh pose, he can still raise some of his trademark quad zippers, but his abs are filmy. The crowd wants to root for Greene’s ascendence but, underwhelmed, their cheers dwindle the longer he poses.

Much of the same could be said for Victor Martinez, who nearly won this contest three years ago when he was a controversial second to Cutler. A knee injury sidelined him in ’08, but the resulting quad imbalance that threw him off last year is no longer an issue. At 254 pounds, he simply isn’t detailed enough for the first callout, especially in regards to his otherwise excellent back. Still, the quality of this contest drops off dramatically after the top four, so Martinez’s classical lines could move him as high as fifth. That’s where I had him. Instead, he’ll end up eighth (one point behind Greene), his lowest finish in six years.

Ronnie Rockel and Toney Freeman are familiar with the scrum to secure a final posedown position, having placed seventh and eighth, respectively, last year. Though it’s still a liability against the world’s best, Rockel has made great strides in bringing up his back. One of the hardest guys in a show bereft of spot-on conditioning, he deservingly earned his first trip to the Olympia posedown [top six]. On the other hand, the 44-year-old Freeman is far from his sharpest, and his wheels are a bit deflated.

No one needed a posedown position more than Dennis Wolf. After his humiliating DNP last year, his underwhelming third at the New York Pro this year, and a tumultuous 12 months that saw him fire two different “gurus” (as he dismissively calls nutritionists), many were already counting out the 31-year-old who had twice before placed in the Olympia top five. But when he is not just included in the second callout but moved to the center between Greene and Rockel, Wolf pumps a fist, grinning. In the fourth callout, he joins Rockel in comparisons with the top four.

“That was a tremendous feeling,” a beaming Wolf avers post-prejudging. “I had a tough year, but I’m back now. And I know I need to be bigger, but I think I have this figured out.” At 5’11” and 265, he does indeed need more heft. His quads have lost sweep, once round and full muscles look more angular and flat, and he needs to finally fill out his hams or he’ll forever lose side shots, but Wolf’s conditioning isn’t far off the mark, and his ludicrously wide rear double biceps draws your eyes not just in the second callout but also in the fourth against the best of the best, hinting at the promise the Wolfman may still fulfill.

LAST CALLOUT 

The final callout is the same as the first, and after first moving Warren next to Cutler—much to Warren’s fist-pumping pleasure and hoots from the crowd—he’s moved again before the first pose, so the order left to right is: Heath, Warren, Jackson, Cutler, leaving the two Sandow owners side by side. You don’t earn the nickname “The Blade” without perpetually bringing a lot of cuts to the party, and Dexter Jackson delivers per usual. He had greater HD detailing a few years ago, but, two months shy of his 41st birthday, Dex still has the narrowest waist in the lineup, and he gained some new quad roundness this year training with Charles Glass.

Other than Jackson, the only man in the contest to defeat Cutler is Branch Warren, but that was 17 years ago at the Teen Nationals. Then he was a light-heavyweight. Today, though no taller than some 202 competitors, he weighs 245 gnarly pounds, with monster truck wheels and a back that has gone from a liability two years ago to a strength today. The Bulldozer’s placing got a bit ahead of his physique when he was runner-up last year, but his veiny, grainy density deservedly propels him to an uncontroversial third this outing.

BACKSTAGE, AFTER PREJUDGING 

Cramping from dehydration, Cutler slumps into the first chair he sees, downing water and texting, before eventually lying still on the carpet beside the plastic chair, a space he’ll occupy for the next 20 minutes, in agony.

Greene’s pain is emotional as he tries to make sense of what just happened. I inform him he was off, and more than a little. “It’s a long time to be training and dieting to be off,” he says quietly. After a long pause, he states, “I’m just wondering what the warning signs were. We had a whole strategy with my weight, and I think what you’re seeing is what happens when it blows up in my face.”

In contrast, Heath is all smiles. “This is the first time I was compared with the best and I felt I got the best of them. The main objective was to make whatever weaknesses I had my strengths, like I felt my front relaxed was the most improved pose I had, because I rounded out my shoulders and brought up my chest so much.” He sighs deeply, grinning. “It was what I envisioned Friday night to be. It was a dream come true to have people actually chant for both of us [he and Cutler]. I always told him my dream was to be up there battling him for this title. If he and I become one and two tomorrow night, the whole place is going to erupt. The whole damn roof is going to blow off.”

BACKSTAGE, BEFORE FINALS 

Competitors, officials, and press personnel mingle with Mr. Olympias. The first Mr. O, Larry Scott, shakes hands with Branch Warren. Forever a fan, a grinning Dennis James seeks out the fifth Mr. O, Frank Zane, while judge Steve Weinberger laughs with the second Mr. O, Sergio Oliva. Martinez sits on a bench press bench in the pump-up pen, watching the eighth Mr. O, Lee Haney speak with IFBB Pro League president Jim Manion. The 37-year-old Martinez, who nearly joined the ranks of Sandow owners three years prior, is smiling wistfully, perhaps contemplating what could have been.

POSING ROUTINES 

Kai Greene is upside down, on his head, colossal legs churning the air. Unlike previous years, the 15 individual posing routines at Saturday’s finals are not scored. Still, some of them are noteworthy. Sharper than the day before, Greene delivers a gliding, mostly subdued performance to Jill Scott’s “He Loves Me” that feels poignant, probably because we know he knows he’s out of the running.

In the twilight of his career, Troy Alves does it his way, striking classical poses to Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Marcus Haley snakes about the stage to hip-hop, rolling his abs to the crowd’s delight and rarely halting. Hide Yamagishi again proves to be the premiere presenter in the traditional style, striking classic kneeling and twisting shots to sappy music, and even throwing in a pirouette.

Branch Warren flows elegantly in the first half of his routine, as if to say, “I’m not merely a mass monster.” Phil Heath raises the arena’s energy with a ferocious hip-hop barrage, but should’ve held some shots longer. In contrast, Jay Cutler moves too slow with awkward transitions. The former trio are destined for top three, but it’s Dennis James who garners the loudest response of the posing round—a standing ovation for his final appearance on the Mr. Olympia stage. Emotionally, he goes to the mic and reciprocates by telling 8000 fans how much he appreciates them and the sport of bodybuilding.

ON STAGE, FINALS  

Larry Scott, Sergio Oliva, Franco Columbu, Frank Zane, Chris Dickerson, Samir Bannout, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Dexter Jackson, and Jay Cutler stand on stage near the beginning of Saturday’s finals as Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers a video greeting. Including California’s governor, they are the 12 Mr. Olympia winners on this the 45th anniversary of the first contest. [It’s the 46th Olympia, but the anniversary was celebrated to honor the victors while all were still living. It’s the final time all Mr. Olympias appeared together. Olivia was the first to die in 2012.] How hard is it to join the club? Only five men have won the elusive Sandow trophy over the previous 27 annual contests—the same number of American presidents during that span.

POSEDOWN 

For the top six, the comparisons in Saturday’s posedown round are half their scores. They go through the four relaxed shots and eight mandatories twice, and both times Cutler and Heath are side-by-side in the middle. (Warren moves from beside Heath the first time to beside Cutler the second time.) At 242, Heath has tightened up, excavating extra leg and chest lines. Meanwhile, Hany Rambod (nutritionist/trainer for both Heath and Cutler) has taken Cutler the other way over the previous 24 hours, filling him out with a couple more pounds but losing none of his details. Whereas prejudging was a mere three point difference between the two, the judges see the finals as a unanimous (five-point) decision for the reigning Mr. O. In fact, all six posedown placings are unanimous at the finals.

In the free-for-all that concludes the posedown, Heath takes it to Cutler, and Warren takes it to both of them, each stalking from one side of the stage to the other, firing shots in a series of duels. As Heath predicted, the whole place erupts, though the damn roof, thankfully, stays secured. When it’s just 37-year-old Cutler versus 30-year-old Heath, their fans chant their names, trying to drown each other out, and “CUT-LER!” and “HEATH!” bleed together into a rhythmic roar. Side by side, trying to raise every fiber in their most musculars, the friends grimace but also grin. This is what they were waiting for. This is what bodybuilding was waiting for.

ANNOUNCEMENT 

And then there were two. After Branch Warren accepts his third place award, Jay Cutler and Phil Heath stride to center stage. They embrace, smiling, and they stand with a hand on each other, hearts thumping, awaiting the announcement from emcee Bob Cicherillo. They speak words only they can hear above the babel of fans yowling and chanting their names.

“Who would’ve thought? You’re living the frickin’ dream, dude,” Cutler tells his close friend. “This is great for you. Who would’ve thought when we met that we would actually be on the same stage and be friends and be the last two standing here for the Mr. Olympia.”

“I got mad love for you, man,” Heath replies. “Just think, when I met you seven years ago, I was just a starstruck fan, and two years later I guest posed with you, and here we are five years after that and one and two at the Olympia, one and two in the whole frickin world.”

“It’s crazy. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

“Thanks for all you’ve done for me,” Heath says, trying to avoid choking up.

“It’s been my pleasure, bro.”

Two months shy of his 90th birthday, Joe Weider is ushered out to join the last two men standing.

Cicherillo bellows: “…and the Sandow trophy and the title of Mr. Olympia and take it to…”

BACKSTAGE, AFTER FINALS 

“It was just a lot of different emotions,” Heath says of the Olympia experience that brought him to the precipice of being Mr. O number 13. “I was very nervous, very anxious, very excited, sometimes fearful of what’s going to happen, but once I got up there to do my routine tonight and I heard the crowd reaction, I was just overjoyed. And to hear when Branch got announced third, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, here we are.’ Jay and I always text-message each other saying, ‘You and me dude, you and me,’ and being on stage with him at that moment was incredible. I’ll always remember that.”

Then he grins that Gift grin, eyes aglow. “And I had him, boy. I just know I had him. And he was like, ‘Holy crap, this young guy can get me.’” As Heath says this four-time Mr. Olympia runner-up Kevin Levrone passes by, a reminder of the elite company Phil Heath joined tonight but also of how difficult it can be to take that final step to bodybuilding’s summit.

No one knows that difficulty better than Jay Cutler, who has been second at the Olympia a record five times [that record will go to six the next year when Heath wins]. Tonight, though, he revels in victory number four. After his speech, and after a photo shoot backstage, and after the numbing barrage of congratulations from friends, family, and his fellow Mr. Olympias, Cutler and his posse trudge down the long hall that leads away from the Orleans Arena stage—his “house,” as he calls it—and outside into the warm Vegas night where a hundred or so fans await. They roar as the glass doors swing open. Their hero grins. He’s king for another year. His place in history is secure. He has his dynasty.

2010 MR. OLYMPIA RESULTS

September 24-25, 2010 / Orleans Arena / Las Vegas, Nevada

1. Jay Cutler ($200,000)

2. Phil Heath ($100,000)

3. Branch Warren ($75,000)

4. Dexter Jackson ($50,000)

5. Dennis Wolf ($40,000)

6. Ronny Rockel ($30,000)

7. Kai Greene ($18,000)

8. Victor Martinez ($17,000)

9. Toney Freeman ($16,000)

10. Hide Yamagishi ($14,000)

11. (tie) Johnnie Jackson ($4000)

11. (tie) Dennis James ($4000)

13. Marcus Haley ($4000)

15. Roelly Winklaar ($4000)

16. Ed Nunn ($2000)

17. Evgeny Mishin ($2000)

The following competitors did not place and are listed here alphabetically.

Francisco “Paco” Bautista ($2000)

Erik Fankhouser ($2000)

Robert Piotrkowicz ($2000)

Craig Richardson ($2000)

Bill Wilmore ($2000)

2010 MR. OLYMPIA SCORECARD

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This article originally appeared in a different form in the December 2010 FLEX magazine under the title “Dynasty.”

THE OLYMPIA BEFORE AND AFTER

The 2009 Mr. Olympia

The 2011 Mr. Olympia