โYour best is good enough!โ a voice bellows from the audience at the 2011 Mr. Olympia press conference after Phil Heath speaks. Cut to 34 hours later, and Heath stands at center stage shoulder to shoulder with Jay Cutlerโhis close friend, his mentor, the four-time and reigning Mr. Oโand before their final pose, Heath claps his hands, savoring the moment he dreamt about for a decade, and he grins that Gift grin as he winds up his most muscular, and any lingering doubts evaporate as he shows everyoneโjudges, journalists, fans, and criticsโin the Orleans Arena and the bodybuilding world outside that this is his time, this is his stage, this will soon be his title. His best is good enough. He will be number 13.
2011 MR. OLYMPIA ATHLETESโ MEETING
โGoing into this contest after a whole yearโs layoff Iโve never been more confident in my life. Iโm going to be the thirteenth Mr. Olympia come Saturday night. My philosophy was I was very close last year, so all I had to do was be better than last year and great things would come out of it.โ So says Phil Heath, 74 hours before he is, like the previous September, one of the last two men standing at center stage.
2011 MR. OLYMPIA PRESS CONFERENCE
Thirty-one men qualified for the 2011 Mr. Olympia but 24 are competing. Of the eight absent, no loss is greater than that of Branch Warren, who slipped and suffered a torn quadriceps four weeks before the contest he calls โthe Super Bowl of bodybuilding.โ Nevertheless, the iron warrior, third at last yearโs Olympia and second the year before that, attends the press conference, where he receives a standing ovation from the 24 men due to flex the next two days. Two hours later, I see him in a Goldโs Gym, limping in a leg brace but bombarding biceps, already preparing for 2012.
Warren and the question mark of what could have been open the press conference, but the man who puts the exclamation point on Thursdayโs confab is Jerry โJ.D.โ Dorsey, Heathโs stepfather, who shouts: โYour best is good enough!โ When Heath played basketball growing up, โpopโsโ motto meant his stepson should always be satisfied with having given his best, regardless of the outcome, but this year in this place โgood enoughโ seems to take on a meaning that has everything to do with the outcome.
BACKSTAGE BEFORE PREJUDGING
An hour before the first male competitor steps onto the Orleans Arena stage on Friday evening, Kai Greene sits on a bench in the pump-up pen, gazing at nothing in particular as he munches on a granola bar. โIโm in a moment with my thoughts,โ he says. Lying on the carpet, Dennis Wolf professes confidence, but having yo-yoed from fourth (’08) to DNP (’09) to fifth (โ10) no one knows more than he does about the cruel vagaries of contest conditioning during bodybuildingโs most stressful weekend. โSometimes you look great and two hours later you look like shit,โ he says with a laugh.
But where are competitors 22 and 24? I find them in a curtained and carpeted pen behind the makeshift tanning and oiling room, lying on the floor, talking and laughing. They reveal that they had been discussing my article โThe Top Twoโ (June 2011 FLEX magazine), which chronicles their eight-year friendship and their workouts together over the previous five years. In contrast to their previous three shared Olympias, when they texted or called each other nearly daily, โThis was the first prep we didnโt talk at all,โ Cutler says. Now they chat about sushi and chiropractors and posing trunk color choices (Cutler: โIโm wearing blackโlike an assassin.โ) and long flights to foreign countries. Theyโre great friends offstage, but great foes when the comparisons start. โI just canโt wait to take the fight to him,โ Heath tells me when he strolls back towards the pump-up pen, and heโs grinning, eyes aglow.
COMPETITOR 14
After competitor number one (Dennis Wolf), the dozen who followed fail to sustain a crowd roar, though both numbers seven (Victor Martinez) and 10 (Dexter Jackson) have their moments. Then, Kai Greene makes his way to center stage and generates a perpetual thunder. He looks morphed, as if someone took a typical Olympia contender and piled another 30 pounds everywhere. The sheer visual assault of chockablock muscle can create a sensory overload, especially in regards to his cartoonish back and legs. But when the shock dissipates, itโs clear that Greene at 270 does not sport the collection of fine detailing he does at his best. His vastus lateralis is zippered, but his upper half is a bit blurry. Still, when he unveils floor-sweeping lats or vertical blind hams or ceiling-reaching biโs, many in the crowd think maybe…just maybe.
COMPETITOR 22
Maybe what? Never mind. Forget the first 21. Thatโs the effect Phil Heath has when he stalks to center stage and locks in his standing relaxed. Version 1.0 (215 pounds) was unveiled at the 2005 USA Championships, and we first saw Version 2.0 (231 pounds) at the 2008 Ironman Pro. Now, right on schedule, comes a whole new Heath, version 3.0. At 248, heโs only two pounds more than last year, but, leaner and larger, the difference is pronounced. IMAX-sized with 3-D density and high-def details, his is the first thoroughly modern physique of the 21st century, a new paradigm of bodybuilding excellence.
โIโve been able to take my weaknesses and make them strengths,โ he said earlier, and here comes the evidence. His clavicles will always be narrow, but with his capacious delts one rarely notices. His once-shallow pecs are now amongst the worldโs deepest. Likewise, while in previous versions his lats lagged, his rear shots are now two of his strongest. But then again, every shot is strong. Contests are all about comparisons, so everyone looks better standing by himself. But this time, as 31-year-old Heath rolls through his eight mandatory poses and the audience reciprocates with gasps and the shocked shaking of heads and then ear-ringing roars when shots are locked in, this contest is decided. Even bodybuilding legends profess to feeling chills when Heath cements his rear double biceps and hands-in-front most muscular. The future has arrived.
COMPETITOR 24
Jay Cutler at his best may have had the width and wheels to fend off his close friend in an apple versus orange decision, but heโs not at his best today. At a photo shoot two and a half weeks before the contest, he suffered fiber tears at the top insertion of his left biceps. On stage, it looks inflamed and purplish. The trauma has also blurred his upper body conditioning, especially his back. Whatโs more, he lacks the 3-D pop we saw in competitor 22. His legs, especially from the side, are downsized. Still, heโs the four-time champ, he carries 258 pounds, heโs wider than each of the 23 who preceded him, and this is his adopted hometown. Grinning, he eggs on the audience before firing shots, and the crowd loudly reciprocates its love and respect for the man who last finished lower than second 11 years and 24 contests ago.
FIRST CALLOUT
The initial comparisons consist of Cutler, Heath, Greene, Wolf, Dexter Jackson and Victor Martinez. Here then, as predicted, is the presumptive top six, but as the O quickly breaks into a two-man race for the top and a four-man battle to flesh out the next four spots, Iโll hold my analysis until the two final callouts.
SECOND CALLOUT
Originally consisting of Hide Yamagishi, Ronny Rockel, Brandon Curry and Toney Freeman, a fifth name is added to the mix: Shawn Rhoden. In this, his Olympia debut, Rhoden is eventually the odd man out of the big-money top 10, but his crisp lines, wispy waist and bounteous quads draw eyes away from the others, especially during the front double biceps. With more back and delt meat, the 36-year-old could contend for a top six slot in future Oโs. [He won this title in 2018.] Another O-rookie and, at 28, the youngest man in the lineup, Brandon Curry is the biggest surprise of the weekend. Never previously noted for his high-definition, heโs in the shape of his life, and he uses his width and full muscle bellies to great advantage. He still needs to inflate his wheels, but I have him seventh here. [He won this title in 2019.]
In contrast to the two rookies, the remaining three men in this callout had previously posed in a collective 14 Olympiaโs, and each had been sharper (and placed higher) at previous Sandow hunts. Coming off last yearโs sixth and with a scarcity of crevices in the rear shots, blurry abs and an overall downsizing, 227-pound Rockel is the showโs biggest disappointment. I rank the 39-year-old German out of the top 10. At 45, Freeman uses his superior width to grab his highest O placing in three years. And the smallest man of the group, Japanโs Yamagishi, excavates enough divots in the crucial rear double bi for his third straight top 10 O finish.
THIRD CALLOUT
The bodybuilder I place in the top 10 instead of the Rock is in this six-man callout and eventually moves up one spot on Saturday to land in 12th: Ed Nunn. Heโs near his peak, he brings his typically outrageous X-frame, and he sports the showโs top abs. Still, Nunn has the weakest back of this bunch, and that ultimately keeps him from climbing higher on judgesโ scoresheets. Like the second callout, this one features two O rookies: South Africaโs Marius Dohne and Canadaโs Frank McGrath, both of whom need more heft for this level. McGrath, along with Eugene Mishin, lose this calloutโs battle for the top 15, while veterans Johnnie Jackson and Craig Richardson use their strengths to make it there again. Combine Jacksonโs upper half and Richardsonโs lower half and youโd have an Olympia top-sixer.
NEXT-TO-LAST CALLOUT
Left to right it goes: Martinez, Wolf, Greene, Jackson. Itโs difficult to judge the Rorschach test that is 268-pound Dennis Wolf. He wins the front double bi and front lat spread, but his lagging hams lose him the side shots. And from behind heโs a tale of two halves, as his upper body width wows but the lack of lines and curves below distracts. I have him fighting for third with Greene. Just as Wolfโs physique is an eye-of-the-beholder enigma, so is Greeneโs startling collection of parts. He has more than enough size for a Sandow, and I favor him in the side chest (largely on the strength of his legs) and the rear lat spread (for his density from top to bottom), but his best chance at a Sandow would be at 10-15 pounds lighter with a maze of rope-like striations to accompany his synapse-jarring accumulation of muscle.
The two veterans, 2007 Mr. O runner-up Martinez and 2008 Mr. O Jackson, are both off their best but not far enough to slip out of the top six. Martinez has the most aesthetically pleasing upper body in the contest, but his legs lag today; and 41-year-old Jackson has less details and curves than he did a few years ago but still enough to remain among bodybuildingโs elite.
LAST CALLOUT
Heath was disappointed last year that he was never in a two-man final callout with the champ. This year, itโs one on one, mano a mano. Of the eight mandatories, Heath wins seven. He loses only abs and thigh, because itโs the one pose where every bodybuilder looks blocky and because Cutler raises more quad stripes and displays greater ab density. Once a weakness, front lat spread is now one of the Giftโs deadliest shotsโlargely because of his chest, delt, and arm thickness. Likewise, his back depth and details now win him the rear lat spreadโanother pose he used to lose consistently. Not even a four-time Mr. O can hang with Heathโs side shots, and, whether crab or hands-in-front, Heath’s most musculars are jaw-droppers.
The rear double biceps is the the most important pose in bodybuilding, as itโs the clearest indicator of conditioning as well as attention paid to a variety of muscles, great and small. Letโs break it down. Cutlerโs shoulders and lats are significantly wider, but Heathโs delts are larger, and his arms are bigger and knottier. On this day, the Gift may have the deepest divots ever witnessed between his trapezius and his infraspinatus. In fact, all of his back from neck through his spinal erectors breaks into a relief map of mountains and valleys, plateaus and chasms. His striped glutes are so excavated of body fat they cast dark shadows on both sides. He loses calves to Cutler, but his hams are finely sliced while his thighs from behind appear every bit as wide as the four-time champโs. Lights out. This, the fourth mandatory, is the shot that seals the deal.
BACKSTAGE AFTER PREJUDGING
โIt feels frickinโ awesome,โ a beaming Heath effuses moments after stepping off stage. โI feel like I was playing on the road and I kicked the shit out of the home team in front of the home crowd and thereโs not a damn thing they can say.โ Martinez, who lost a controversial decision to Cutler in 2007, shakes Heathโs hand and tells him, โYou got this. A year late, but you got it.โ
BACKSTAGE BEFORE FINALS
One of the unique things about two-day contests is the buzz that builds over the 24 hours. This year, by the time competitors stroll the long, linoleum hallway to the backstage area on Saturday evening that buzz is deafening: about Heath Version 3.0 and about Cutlerโs left biceps. The champ is adamant that despite those claiming otherwise, his armโs swelling and discoloration are the result of an injury and not injections. He even insists I feel the torn fibers. โWhat was I going to do, come in and tell everyone I had a torn biceps?โ he asks. โOf course I was going to come in confident. I hoped it wasnโt so noticeable, but there was nothing I could do.โ
โIt took me a while to let it all set in,โ Heath says. โI had to look at a lot of pictures. I think that Iโve had such a critical eye as to how I want to look. And I can only blame Hany [Rambod] for that, but thatโs a good thing. And it wasnโt until this morning that I realized that I just shocked the damn world.โ
Heath finds Cutler behind a curtain again, though this time the champ is lying on the concrete floor to keep his body temperature down. They talk about how great it was to go head-to-head the night before, and the 11th Mr. Olympia tells soon-to-be-13 how glad he is that heโs following him as Mr. O. โYouโve always been a class act,โ Heath says, โand if I can be half as good an ambassador as youโve been Iโd be happy. But first we got to have some fun tonight.โ
ROUTINES
Few of the 15 posing routines are memorable. Martinez moves to his own rap theme song. Sample lyrics: โYou know he been working out, ainโt no reason to question. Victor Martinez is the hardest body flexinโ.โ Greene does a more traditional-than-usual routine, but it still showcases some of his unique transitions and a brief interlude with him flat on his back. Stalking the stage to hip-hop, Heath fires heavy artillery shots, garnering a colossal roar in conclusion, including a standing ovation from two men who were second at the Mr. Olympia but never first: Shawn Ray and Flex Wheeler. Finally, competitor 24 milks every moment of what is his 12th and likely his final Olympia. [Cutler returned in 2013, finishing sixth.] The crowd reciprocates with a sonic cannonade that rivals and perhaps even exceeds Heathโs.
COMPARISONS
The judges run through four callouts (with only the top 15) at Saturdayโs finals. The most significant development, at least in terms of check size, is Martinez overtaking Wolfโs three-point Friday lead to edge past into fourth by a single point. After 13 competitors are compared in the first three callouts, head judge Jim Rockell says, โI think we have two guys we havenโt called yet,โ and Cutler and Heath stride out together, embrace and, as planned, have fun. They wind up and lock in shots as simultaneously as any two bodybuilders can. Emcee Bob Cicherillo asks, โIf shows are won from the back, whoโs winning this one?โ and itโs clear what the answer is when the Gift again solidifies his chill-inducing rear double biceps.
POSEDOWN
Jay Cutler also realizes his arm wasnโt his only problem. Heโs certain heโll lose the title, and yet heโs content, happy for his friend and protรฉgรฉ. Not only will Cutler break his own record for most Olympia seconds with his sixth, but heโll set the record for most top two Olympia finishes at 10โan impressive feat that distinguishes him his from old rival Ronnie Coleman, who has nine. [Phil Heath also now has nine.]
This year, in a new development, the top 10 and not just the top six join in the posedown. At first, it seems the extra four are merely taking up valuable space, but eventually they fill out the wide stage. When the music dims and Cutler heads back to the front of the dais to strike a few final poses by himself, egging on the hometown crowd, Heath shakes his head as if to say โItโs my nightโ and joins him there, only to be followed by the other eight. The posedown starts up again, and Cutler, Jackson and Heath (Mr. Oโs 11, 12, and, soon, 13) stride to stage left together, generating a standing ovation. Finally, when the music has died again, 11 kneels briefly and mouths the words โI love youโ to the fans in attendance but also to the bodybuilding world.
2011 MR. OLYMPIA AWARDS
Success at the Mr. Olympia is measured in concentric circles with the winner at the center axis: top 15, top 10, top six, and, the medalists, the top three. At the press conference two days prior, Wolf (in the top six three times prior) professed confidence he would at last make it to the inner circle, and the announcement that he fell two slots short generates the only boos of the award ceremony. Instead, another man enters bodybuildingโs highest sanctum. With the bronze medal jangling around his neck, Greene later professes his happiness to climb so close to the top. โI have work to do, but Iโll take this and build on it,โ he says with a smile.
As the first eight awards are handed out, Heath and Cutler, side by side, talk, expressing sentiments that only they hear but which you can now know.
Heath: โThanks for never letting our friendship get messed up with this whole industry.โ
Smiling, Cutler nods. โYouโre gonna be the king now. Are you ready?โ
Heath: โYeah, Iโm ready, because you showed me how to do this.โ
Cutler: โWait for it, because itโs coming. Youโre going to be king of the bodybuilding world.โ Ever present of image and wary of clichรฉs, the champ in the final minutes of his reign, adds, โAnd donโt fall to your knees.โ Heath laughs.
And then they wait, the king for the past two years and four of the last five, and the king for the next year and perhaps beyond. They wait as emcee Bob Cicherillo milks the tension. And when, finally, at 10:05 PM PST, September 17, 2011, he hears his name, Heathโs knees buckle and he shields his eyes and doubles over, but he does not fall to the stage.
โSurprisingly, Iโm very happy, because Phil Heath is my best friend, and Iโve watched Phil since backstage at a local contest. I said โWho is that guy with those arms?โ And I told him, โYou can be the best some day.โ Little did I know, his best was going to come against me.โ In a gracious and moving gesture, grinning Jay Cutler tells this to the audience just after losing his title. The speech concludes with a sentiment directed to the newest Mr. Olympia: โI always said if I was to lose the title, I wouldnโt be happier than to lose it to someone like you, as my friend. I was very proud to see you come up, and now you are the king.โ
BACKSTAGE AFTERWARDS
The king and I stroll back to the carpeted, curtained room where his clothes are, and with each stride the gold medal around his neck clangs. โThat was the best feeling of my life,โ he says of the announcement he was the 13th Mr. Olympia in the contestโs 47-year history. โIt was especially awesome knowing that I beat a Mr. Olympia to be Mr. Olympia. It wouldโve been different if he had retired and the title had been vacant and I had won that way, but to know that I beat a four-time Mr. Olympia, a guy that was relevant over 10 years in bodybuilding being top-two, and such a good friend, thatโs incredible.โ
Number 13 tears a new T-shirt out of its sealed bag and slips it on, stretching its boundaries, and says, โIโve been waiting to wear this for a long time.โ The shirt declares what he proved over the previous two nights: โI Am The Future.โ โI have to remind myself Iโm just getting started. Donโt let up.โ Then he grins that Gift grin. โI have a long journey ahead of me, more wins like this, I hope. I got to prove this was no fluke, and Iโm up for that challenge. But for now, Iโm going to savor this.โ Itโs good to be king.
2011 MR. OLYMPIA RESULTS
September 16-17, 2011 / Orleans Arena / Las Vegas, Nevada
1. Phil Heath ($200,000)
2. Jay Cutler ($100,000)
3. Kai Greene ($75,000)
4. Victor Martinez ($50,000)
5. Dennis Wolf ($40,000)
6. Dexter Jackson ($30,000)
7. Toney Freeman ($18,000)
8. Brandon Curry ($17,000)
9. Ronny Rockel ($16,000)
10. Hidetada Yamagishi ($14,000)
11. Shawn Rhoden ($4000)
12. Ed Nunn ($4000)
13. Johnnie Jackson ($4000)
14. Marius Dohne ($4000)
15. Craig Richardson ($4000)
The following competitors did not place and are listed here alphabetically.
Troy Alves
Robert Burneika
Marcus Haley
Michael Kefalianos
Marc LaVoie
Frank McGrath
Evgeny Mishin
Robert Piotrkowicz
Ben White
This article originally appeared in the November 2011 FLEX magazine under the title “Number 13.”
