Dorian Yates on his way to his fifth Mr. Olympia title. / Raymond Cassar for Muscletime
The 1996 Mr. Olympia had arguably the best bodybuilding lineup of all time. How great was it? Chris Cormier was left on the outside of the posedown. And so was future eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, though he did retroactively crack the top six a month later when the legend who finished third was disqualified. Sheesh. The bodybuilding talent in the ’90s was off the chain, and this is exhibit A. It’s September 21, 1996, just days after the murder of Tupac Shakur. The “Macarena” is ubiquitous. We’re headed to Chicago, Illinois, in the midst of Michael Jordan and the Bulls’ second three-peat. Downtown, next to the Loop and the lake, in a sprawling convention center, is the 4200-seat Arie Crown Theater. Grab your program. Welcome to the 32nd Mr. Olympia.
1996 MR. OLYMPIA: OUTSIDE THE TOP SIX
Let’s first acknowledge a professional bodybuilder, noted for his high-def conditioning, who, tragically, was not in the Windy City for the 1996 Mr. Olympia. Andreas Münzer, who had three times before finished ninth in the Mr. Olympia, competed in the Arnold Classic on March 2, finishing sixth. Twelve days later, he died of “dystrophic multiple organ failure.” He was 31. The autopsy revealed 20 drugs in his system, including diuretics (used to remove subcutaneous water and thus reveal greater definition), which in high doses can lead to organ failure. In the wake of Münzer’s shocking death, the powers-that-be banned diuretics from the Mr. Olympia six months later. All male bodybuilders would be tested.
The Mr. Olympia then was a one-day contest, with the prejudging in the early afternoon of Saturday and the finals that evening. However, the broader Olympia had expanded to two days. On Friday, Vince Taylor, who had turned 40 the month prior, won the Masters Olympia and Kim Chizevesky upset six-time champ Lenda Murray in the Ms. Olympia. So, two new champs were crowned. Would there be a third?
Swiss rookie Jean Pierre Fux was the size sensation of 1996. His conditioning was blurry in Chi-town, but at 5’11” and 260, the 27-year-old had nearly enough muscle to hang with anyone. In one of the Euro Tour pro contests just after this Olympia, Fux placed second behind only Nasser El Sonbaty and ahead of Kevin Levrone, Paul Dillett, and Chris Cormier.
The always aesthetic Chris Cormier had been sixth in his first two Olympias the previous two years, but the Real Deal missed the posedown here only because of the quality of the lineup.
Future eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman was also on the outside of the posedown, originally landing in the seven spot. He’d battled Flex Wheeler in pro contests earlier in the year (Wheeler won two, Coleman one), but wasn’t dry enough to contend this time. Remarkably, this was his first time cracking the Olympia top 10 in four tries and his highest placing before winning the title in 1998.
1996 MR. OLYMPIA TOP SIX
The judges never really knew what to do with Paul Dillett. The Canadian behemoth had the biggest arms and delts in the contest, and his waist was svelte and legs were phenomenal for someone 6’1″. But his back was a glaring weakness. In the front double biceps, side chest, or just standing relaxed, he looked like Mr. Olympia. In rear shots, he looked like he could miss the top 10. The judges split the difference. He’d been fourth and fifth the previous two years. They placed him sixth in Chicago.
Flex Wheeler had been a shocking second in his Mr. Olympia debut in 1993, but a car crash kept him out the next year, and blurry conditioning sank him to eighth in 1995. He was bigger-than-ever on this balmy day in Chicago, and showcased his always superb structure, but, like Coleman, he too was holding too much water. Was it the diuretics test?
Flex Wheeler is my pick for the best bodybuilder to never win the Mr. Olympia. But a strong case can be made for Kevin Levrone, who was second four times and won 20 pro contests (both are records for non Mr. O’s). Just the year before, he’d been second again in the Mr. Olympia. His curvy delts, arms, and quads always drew attention. But, like his frenemy Wheeler, Levrone was off his peak this time.
When Dorian Yates showed up at the 1993 Mr. Olympia at an arid 257 pounds, it rocked the bodybuilding world. A new size standard was set. There were two ways to approach this. Try to beat Yates with superior aesthetics or try to out-muscle him. Few even considered the latter. Nasser El Sonbaty did. When he was seventh at his Olympia debut in 1994, the 5’11” El Sonbaty was striking classic poses with a classical physique. That was good enough for a promising seventh, but didn’t earn him any comparisons to Yates. Over the next year, he transformed his physique into one of the world’s largest, blurring his previously pleasing lines. It worked. No, he didn’t beat Yates, who had a superior back, but El Sonbaty earned comparisons with the champ and even bested him in some poses (his delts and arms were bigger than Yates’s). Nasser El Sonbaty, newly minted 280-pound mass monster, was third in the 1995 Mr. Olympia and, originally, third again in 1996. But put an asterisk next to that.
Shawn Ray took the opposite approach. The 5’6″ and 215 pound Ray wasn’t going to outmuscle anyone in the Olympia posedown, so he’d have to outclass them. In Olympia after Olympia, Ray just kept doing his thing, showcasing his proportionate development and flawless lines. He was also consistently conditioned. The Californian competed almost exclusively in the Mr. Olympia, and after his rookie year of 1988, he finished in the top five an incredible 11 straight years. This was his second second. Some observers of the 1996 Mr. Olympia in person and to this day via videos and photos contend Ray should’ve won. In fact, the boos were nearly as loud as the cheers when he was announced second and not first. However, on the judges’ score sheets, he wasn’t close to Yates, who won with straight firsts. Instead, he was very close to third. It was classicism vs. monsterism as Ray and El Sonbaty dueled for runner-up with each winning prejudging rounds before Ray pulled slightly ahead at the Saturday finals.
Dorian Yates remembers: “This was the year that the contest would be drug-tested for diuretics, but it didn’t concern me. I was in shape and proved the point that even without [diuretics], I could come in great shape. Maybe [I was] a little flat, but my conditioning was very good.” Yates, like Ray, was consistently ripped, but, unlike Ray, he could exploit his size advantage, especially in the two all-important back shots: double biceps and lat spread. Once again, before he locked in his rear lat spread, he crunched his back to highlight the dorsal thickness and his lumbar “Christmas tree.” Game over?
“I was the third highest Olympia champion with five [wins] at the time,” Yates remembered, “two behind Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and three behind Lee [Haney], and everyone was questioning if I could beat Lee’s record of eight straight wins. For me, it was about preparing already for the next year and taking it a year at a time, but first I needed to analyze the footage from this year’s contest and make adjustments for the Grand Prix events that would take place in a few days.” The 34-year-old Englishman flew away from Chicago with $110,000 and his fifth Sandow trophy. But he wasn’t finished. Just after the Mr. Olympia, as he’d done two years prior, Yates competed in the first three Euro Tour contests, winning them easily (Ray did not compete; El Sonbaty and other top contenders did). But back to those boos at the Olympia. Many fans were growing tired of Yates’s reign. Could anyone overtake him before he overtook Schwarzenegger and Haney? Fate would soon intervene. Dorian Yates didn’t know it then, but the next year would be his last as a professional bodybuilder.
1996 MR. OLYMPIA: POSTSCRIPT
Thirteen of the 14 Mr. Olympia competitors passed the diuretics test when results were released the next month. The one who failed was Nasser El Sonbaty, who had to forfeit his third place finish and reimburse the $30,000 prize. Every bodybuilder behind him moved up one place with eight receiving pay raises. Unlike Jay Cutler in 2001, El Sonbaty did not dispute the results. He admitted that he’d gambled that a test wouldn’t be administrated, and he lost that gamble. He returned in 1997 to finish second behind Dorian Yates in the Mr. Olympia, a contest many believe he should’ve won. Nasser El Sonbaty died in 2013 at 47.
1996 MR. OLYMPIA RESULTS
September 21, 1996 / Arie Crown Theater / Chicago, Illinois
1. Dorian Yates ($110,000)
2. Shawn Ray ($50,000)
* Nasser El Sonbaty (originally 3rd but later disqualified)
3. Kevin Levrone ($30,000)
4. Flex Wheeler ($25,000)
5. Paul Dillett ($15,000)
6. Ronnie Coleman ($12,000)
7. Chris Cormier ($8000)
8. Jean-Pierre Fux ($7000)
9. Charles Clairmonte ($6000)
10. Mike Francois ($5000)
11. Aaron Baker
12. Roland Cziurlok
13. Mike Matarazzo
