The man in the Orleans Arena raises his arms and pumps his fist. He flexes his chest and arms so hard he doubles over. He does so when he hears “four-time Mr. Olympia,” before his name rings out, before he hugs the three-time runner-up—his archrival—before he receives his gold medal, and an oversized $275,000 check, and his fourth Sandow—this one golden. It’s the culmination of the 2014 Mr. Olympia, the 50th edition. The four-time Mr. Olympia has his critics, a legion that will surely grow now that he has won at less than his best and as impatient observers tire of the same conclusions. But once again Phil Heath strode into the arena, once again he fought valiantly, and once again he is the last gladiator standing.
2014 MR. OLYMPIA ATHLETES MEETING
Let’s flash back to last year’s athletes meeting when the carb-depleted competitors signed a few promotional posters. When Kai Greene added “Mr. Olympia 2013″ to his autographs, repercussions reverberated around the bodybuilding world. So what does he do this year? He signs “Mr. Olympia 2014,” of course. Just behind him, the current Mr. Olympia, sporting a doomed beard speckled with gray, is not amused.
“Oh, did I do that?” a coyly smiling Greene retorts when I ask him about the title he affixed to his name. “Thoughts become things. I’ve worked and paid, and I’m still willing to pay to see my own dream realized, and I’m not afraid to vocalize that. The previous Olympias are in the history book, and you can’t take anything away from what anyone accomplished then. But at this moment, 2014 is not certain.”
“He’s the polar opposite to what he’s trying to portray,” Phil Heath says of his archrival, Greene. “Of course, he believes in himself, as he should. Everyone should believe in themself, but to sign your name Mr. Olympia, it’s kind of an unwritten rule in bodybuilding that you just don’t do that. You respect the title. To do it again, it just lets me know this guy has no class.”
2014 MR. OLYMPIA PRESS CONFERENCE
The next day at the press conference, it takes one question from emcee Bob Cicherillo for the fireworks to erupt. Separated by an aisle on the stage, Phil Heath and Kai Greene address each other. “Haven’t you learned from last year?” the reigning Mr. Olympia asks the top contender. “Respect the game. Thirteen men have earned the right to write [Mr. Olympia].”
“We’re going to show you how talk is cheap,” Greene responds. “The past is the past.”
The back-and-forth grows increasingly contentious with Heath brushing off Greene and referencing his three victories in the manner of a winning player pointing to the scoreboard. “This is what happens when you get desperate,” Heath states.
“I’m going to show you desperate when we hit those quarter-turns,” Greene replies.
“It’s a pleasure to be a part of the Kai Greene and Phil Heath show,” Shawn Rhoden jokes. “At the end of the day, we all train to be number fourteen.” [Four years later, in 2018, Rhoden did indeed become the 14th Mr. Olympia.]
Ultimately, this is indeed the Kai Greene and Phil Heath show—a heavyweight title fight in Vegas. When Heath is dedicating the contest to his biological father, who passed away in March, Greene interrupts him. Outrage rains down on Greene from Heath’s sister in the audience. Greene brings up his childhood in government institutions and the fact that he’s never met his dad. “You think you’re the only one who went through anything,” Heath retorts.
When Mr. O says that all he does is beat Greene and he’s going to do it again, a glowering Greene replies, “So let’s do it then. Kick my assets then. I’m here.” The records of Greene’s nutritionist (George Farrah) and Heath’s (Hany Rambod) are bandied about. Cicherillo eventually gets Greene to succinctly state three reasons why he’ll defeat the reigning Mr. O: “I’ll outweigh him by forty pounds. I’ll be wider. And it’ll be all over from the rear.”
When, in turn, three-time Mr. O Heath is asked for three reasons why he’ll beat Greene, his reply is destined to live on long after his reign ends: “2011, 2012, and 2013.” The audience erupts. Even Greene has to smile. But the deep wounds opened up with barbed words will only fester until the real battle begins.
COMPETITOR NO. 1
At prejudging the next evening, Branch Warren is the first to saunter to center stage. He’s 39, and his ninth place at the previous Olympia was widely interpreted as the beginning of a slide to oblivion. Think again. This Texan brings too much passion to the gym and the stage. He isn’t at his peak, but he’s close—grainy, veiny, and with his trademark leg, chest, and back density. At the end of his mandatory poses, he pumps his fist at the appreciative audience, as if to say to haters and supporters alike, “How you like me now?”
COMPETITOR NO. 4
In 2012, Shawn Rhoden won four pro shows and finished third in the Olympia, leaping from also-ran to top contender. Ever since, we’ve been waiting for him to make the shorter jump to the top. But it’s extremely rare for a pro to make one such transformation, let alone two. The 255-pound Flexatron remains that almost-perfect bodybuilder who could win the O with another 10-15 well-placed pounds. From the chest down, he has it all—bold abs, slender hips, colossal quads and hams—but his pecs, delts, and lats are still lagging by comparison. He also could’ve been a bit drier this time.
COMPETITOR NO. 7
Even at 44, the 2008 Mr. Olympia winner remains one of the most consistent competitors of all time. In 67 pro contests over 16 years, Dexter Jackson has never finished in double digits. This year, he forwent earlier shows to focus only on the Olympia. And here he is once again with all the usual Blade traits: cantaloupe biceps, perfectly aligned abs, chockablock pecs and traps. If he isn’t as crisp as he was a decade ago, he made up for it by expanding his quads in recent years, somehow reversing the shrinking leg syndrome that afflicts most 40-something bodybuilders.
COMPETITOR NO. 12
Big Ramy looks morphed. If others are as big as houses, he’s a shopping mall. It seems impossible that he carries 285 lean pounds on a 5’11” frame without looking even a little blocky. His rear lat spread and most muscular generate incredulous smiles even amongst the most jaded observers. Only his calves lag. He’s sharper this year than last. His quads—perhaps the biggest of all time—sport faint cross striations. Still, he needs more overall separation and detailing. If he can come in tight enough, he can be Mr. Olympia, because he makes everyone who stands next to him shrink by comparison. [Ramy won the Mr. Olympia in 2020 and 2021.]
COMPETITOR NO. 15
If you could bet on bodybuilding in Las Vegas, Dennis Wolf would be easy to handicap. In over half of his nine Olympia’s, including this year, he’s finished in places four or five. He’s almost always on the verge of top contender status and yet not quite there. That seemed to change when he finally climbed to third at last year’s Olympia and won this year’s Arnold Classic. Some predicted this O would be a Wolf/Heath clash. The truth is the 5’11” German hasn’t made substantial gains in seven years. He was at his best in 2007, when he was fifth at the Olympia but should’ve been third. He’s not as full now as he was then. His arms have retreated. Still, he came in dry and grainy. And he remains one of the four or five best bodybuilders in the world.
COMPETITOR NO. 16
We could focus on Kai Greene’s strengths—his barrel legs, his hang-glider lats, his spearhead biceps. Or we could focus on his weaknesses—his absent abs, his thickened middle, the scarcity of details and divots in his back shots. I prefer the look of Greene’s 5’8″ physique when he won the 2009 Arnold Classic and weighed 253 with a panoply of ab and lat lines. Like a heavy coat, much of the flesh he’s accumulated since obscures more than it accentuates. As the 39-year-old New Yorker rolls through his poses, he generates the loudest cheers of prejudging. As always, his physique is an amazing work of abstract art, and he expertly displays all 280 pounds. Still, we’ve seen his attempt to overshadow Heath before. It didn’t work. And here he is again, even bigger. Sometimes less is more.
COMPETITOR NO. 17
This is the worst Phil Heath has looked since 2010. Though he came in at a typical 245, he is a little smaller and a little smoother. His trademark rear double biceps lacks its show-stopping 3-D density and HD details. His abs are blurry with some minor bloating. But, of course, we’re always measuring the Gift against his previous best at the 2011 Olympia, and that’s a phenomenal standard. Many consider it the best look of any Mr. O. He can’t be expected to top that at any contest, let alone every contest. And he can’t cram much more flesh on his narrow frame without reaching the point of diminishing returns. The only question after he crunches his most muscular: Did he do enough to once again fend off his archrival?
THE DUEL
Between the last competitor hitting his mandatories alone and the top contenders battling in the first callout, groups organized in numerical order run through the mandatory poses together. This usually serves as a repose. But because No. 16 and No. 17 are side by side in the last of these groups, this is effectively the first callout, the start of the duel everyone has waited 12 months to see—Heath versus Greene again on the Orleans Arena stage.
Despite the simmering tension, they run through the four semi-relaxed quarter-turns and the first five of eight mandatories without incident. But things heat up with the side triceps pose. When Heath turns one way and Greene the other, the latter flips his rope of braided hair and it brushes Heath. No. 17 laughs it off, but as they each simultaneously spike a calf, their heels touch. It’s merely the inadvertent consequence of two men doing the same side pose in opposite directions, but here it’s fuel for the coming fire.
Before the final pose, No. 16 is crowding into No. 17’s space. Greene’s elbow bumps Heath’s, and he then jabs Heath’s elbow with his. Heath won’t budge. Greene glowers. No. 17 tries to laugh it off, but, as with Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (“Funny, how?”), this only seems to ignite the fire. Threats are made.
Smiles turn to scowls. Greene stands with his back to the audience jawing at Heath, mere inches away, and Heath gives it right back. The only logical escalation then is a punch. Head judge Steve Weinberger shouts into his microphone for No. 16 and No. 17 to “Spread out!” and an expediter moves Wolf between the top two bodybuilders in the world. The incident feels ominous, signifying that the 50th Mr. Olympia may be remembered for the wrong reason.
But what of the actual comparisons of No. 16 and No. 17? As always, the further you are away from the stage, the more Greene’s larger silhouette impresses. In fact, even more than in the past, this comes down to Heath’s more pleasing shape versus Greene’s more startling size. Each takes individual poses. Heath wins side triceps. Greene wins front lat spread (a shot I had awarded to Heath in previous duels).
And as for the rear double biceps, the crucial pose that secured the Sandow for Heath in 2011, 2012, and 2013, this time it’s not so clear. Greene has broader thighs, but Heath has more ham and glute cuts. Greene has a much broader back, but Heath has larger delts, deeper traps, and meatier forearms. Upper arms are too close to call. It’s usually his back divots (coupled with his lower body lines) that win this shot for Phil Heath, but the ravines aren’t as deep this time. Heath’s greatest advantage is in the middle: slimmer waistline, bolder spinal erectors, greater glute striations. But, unlike those three previous Olympia’s, this is not a game-over shot for the Gift.
THE 50TH
On Saturday, the golden anniversary Olympia gets rolling with six of the 11 surviving winners taking the stage. Samir Bannout, Franco Columbu, Jay Cutler, Ronnie Coleman (hobbling valiantly after double hip replacement), Lee Haney, and Arnold Schwarzenegger speak about the importance of the contest and its creator, Joe Weider [who dies six months later].
Two more Mr. O’s, Jackson and Heath, are subsequently among the 17 competitors who perform their posing routines in front of gargantuan LED video screens playing transforming psychedelic patterns. Rhoden flows slowly to R&B. After a lupine howl, Wolf prowls the stage to testosterone-fueled classical music. Greene, the greatest avant-garde poser in bodybuilding history, ends his routine with a throwback to “Dirty Diana.” (In friendlier times, Heath called Greene’s 2007 “Dirty Diana” the best posing routine he’s ever seen.) In turn, Heath ends his segment with a barrage of shots to Jay-Z’s “U Don’t Know.”
The 17 competitors are brought out for callouts and judged once again. It starts with a four-man comparison—Wolf, Heath, Greene, Rhoden—and ends with two duels: Rhoden/Wolf and, the one everyone wants to see, Greene/Heath. Greene is slightly drier than the day before, but that has a second meaning here, as his torso is under-oiled. The clash is curiously sedate.
The top 10 bodybuilders spill off the stage during the posedown, striking poses amidst the sold-out Orleans Arena crowd of over 9000. It’s notable who isn’t in that group. Last year, in the shape of his life, Roelly Winklaar finished seventh. This year, he’s bigger but bloated, and he retreats to another double-digit finish.
2014 MR. OLYMPIA AWARDS
While the awards for Wolf and Rhoden are presented, Greene and Heath stand on stage talking. “We’ll just say that we had a friendly exchange,” Mr. Olympia tells me afterwards, “and it just comes down to the fact that he and I are trying to hype this sport up and it gets very, very intense. There’s gonna be moments where you have friction and frustration. People are gonna say things. But at the end of the day, I know what he wants. He wants what I got. And he’s not going to quit. And I respect that.”
“At that point, the fighting is done,” Greene told me with a grin. “So it’s like at the end of the fight when the boxers are standing there covered in sweat and they’re bleeding and they’re waiting for the decision. That’s not the time to punch someone in the face. Then what should surface is the quality and the character of the men. It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to knock him out in the future.”
But not this time. As Heath becomes just the sixth man to win a fourth Sandow trophy—this one gilded in 18-karat gold in honor of the Olympia’s golden anniversary—he raises his arms and pumps his fist and flexes and doubles over. And as the confetti rains down along with cheers and boos, No. 16 and No. 17 embrace. This battle is over. There will be another. [In fact, it was their final battle. While Heath went on to win the title three more times, Green never competed in the Mr. Olympia again.]
2014 MR. OLYMPIA, BACKSTAGE
In a makeshift dressing room near the pump-up pen, Kai Greene says, “I’m very thankful for the people who did cheer and celebrate. There was a lot of positive energy in the air. There were times when I could feel it. It’s almost electric. And it’s really amazing to think that there are so many people who are celebrating this moment in my life. A lot of times people will celebrate your accomplishments, but the athlete has to realize that it’s always important to invest in himself even when the world says there’s no reason to invest in you. It’s wonderful when people support you, but you have to support yourself with your actions, which are a product of your thinking.”
The now four-time and still reigning Mr. Olympia is seated beside Jay Cutler, also the owner of a quartet of Sandows. I tell him I didn’t think he was at his best. “Well, it wasn’t necessary, obviously,” he says of the fullness he lacked. “I knew I could beat these guys on shape and conditioning. I can present different versions of myself and still win, and that’s the key. If you look at any Mr. Olympia multiple champion, they never looked the same way twice. And the problem I have now is I’m always going to be compared with my previous self. So when you guys [in the press] see something, you go back to 2011 and say ‘Why didn’t you look like that?’ instead of really looking at what I did against my competition this time. That’s probably my biggest challenge now. Sometimes people don’t acknowledge that it was a tight battle and someone won by beating the competition. When it comes down to it, it’s as simple as that.”
He’s right. We get jaded. We get impatient. We expect too much or we just want something different. All of us in the press pit and the audience and at home watching screens want to be wowed. Few in history have wowed us more than Phil Heath has over the past nine years. We can’t expect him to establish a new standard every year, just as we can’t expect to be shocked anew each time he locks in his rear double biceps. It’s not about us and what we want to see. It’s not the critic who counts. It’s the man in the arena. Victory is achieved by beating the competition. That’s how Phil Heath won again. And it is indeed as simple as that.
2014 MR. OLYMPIA
September 19-20, 2014 / Orleans Arena; Las Vegas, Nevada
1. Phil Heath ($275,000)
2. Kai Greene ($130,000)
3. Shawn Rhoden ($90,000)
4. Dennis Wolf ($55,000)
5. Dexter Jackson ($45,000)
6. Branch Warren ($35,000)
7. Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Ellsbiay ($25,000)
8. Victor Martinez ($20,000)
9. Steve Kuclo ($19,000)
10. Juan Morel ($16,000)
11. Johnnie Jackson ($4000)
12. Roelly Winklaar ($4000)
13. Fred Smalls ($4000)
14. Jonathan DeLaRosa ($4000)
15. William Bonac ($4000)
16. Ibrahim Fahim ($2000)
16. Jojo Ntiforo ($2000)
This article originally appeared in a somewhat different form with different photos under the title “The Fourth Dimension” in the December/January 2015 issue of FLEX magazine.
