Looking at Mr. Olympia programs in chronological order, you can see not only how the booklets changed but also how the Olympia itself evolved: from a small men’s contest in a crowded lineup of shows always in New York City in the 1960s to a prestigious, stand-alone men’s contest held in different locations around the globe in the ’80s and ’90s to a Las Vegas fitness celebration with multiple male and female competitions this century. The programs, produced and published by Weider from the ’90s onward, died with Weider’s muscle magazines about a decade ago, but until then they wrote a history of the Olympia itself.
We currently have images for 38 covers. Without regard to the physical quality of the program or the photo (both of which can be poor), we’ve ranked the designs of the program covers in the following tiers:
S TIER (best of best)
A TIER (excellent)
B TIER (good)
C TIER (okay)
D TIER (bad)
F TIER (worst of worst)
1965 Mr. Olympia
New York City / winner: Larry Scott
The program cover photo for the initial Olympia predicted the results with Larry Scott (left) and Harold Poole seen winning the Mr. Universe (Scott) and Mr. America (Poole) the year before in the same Brooklyn venue.
C TIER
1966 Mr. Olympia
New York City / winner: Larry Scott
And here we see a similar format with a photo of Larry Scott winning the 1965 Mr. Olympia with contest owners Ben (left) and Joe Weider.
C TIER
1973 Mr. Olympia
New York City / winner: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Though the Mr. America, Mr. World, and Miss Americana were staged with this show at Madison Square Garden, the cover focuses only on the Olympia and Arnold, who won for the fourth straight year.
C TIER
1975 Mr. Olympia
Pretoria, South Africa / winner: Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Pumping Iron contest is cursed with the least appealing program. No photo, virtually no color, faux-leather texture, blah. Because this show was staged in South Africa, the program is in both English and Afrikaans.
F TIER
1976 Mr. Olympia
Columbus / winner: Franco Columbu
What a comeback! From a cheapo nothing front to arguably the most strikingly original one a year later. This was the first of six Olympias promoted by Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer in Columbus and the first of three, very cool silkscreen Arnold covers.
S TIER
1977 Mr. Olympia
Columbus / winner: Frank Zane
Another silkscreened shot of Arnold and not much else. Cool color scheme. Nailed it again. A work of art.
S TIER
1978 Mr. Olympia
Columbus / winner: Frank Zane
This non-silkscreened front still features only Arnold, co-promoter of the contest, in an iconic shadowy shot. Another beauty.
A TIER
1979 Mr. Olympia
Columbus / winner: Frank Zane
The third and final program featuring a silkscreened image of Arnold. We rank it slightly below the first two because it was no longer shockingly original, but still great.
A TIER
1981 Mr. Olympia
Columbus / winner: Franco Columbu
After a year in Australia, the Olympia was back in Ohio and again promoted by Schwarzenegger/Lorimer. Likewise, the program ran back a photo of an Arnold three-quarter pose, similar to one seen three years prior.
B TIER
1982 Mr. Olympia
London, England / winner: Chris Dickerson
The only Mr. O held in the U.K. featured a boring program cover with only an ink line drawing of Arnold and a splash of orange from an Olympics-style torch. As much as we loved the minimalism of the ’70s silkscreen covers, this one is too baren.
D TIER
1983 Mr. Olympia
Munich, Germany / winner: Samir Bannout
With the winners of the past three Olympias not in the lineup, this O was completely up for grabs. Maybe that’s why the program, as busy as the previous year’s was sparse, featured 49-year-old Ed Corney in seven silkscreened poses (Corney ultimately finished 14th out of 15).
B TIER
1986 Mr. Olympia
Columbus / winner: Lee Haney
The sixth and final Olympia held in Ohio promoted by Schwarzenegger/Lorimer was the only one that didn’t feature Arnold alone on the program. Here we see (clockwise from upper left): Lee Haney, Rich Gaspari, Berry DeMey, Albert Beckles, who finished 1st, 2nd, 6th, 4th. This hyping of several top finishers from the previous year on the current year’s cover would return in the next century. The Roman numeral date was a one-off. The “Joe Weider’s” branding for the Olympia has endured to present today, more than a decade after Joe Weider’s death.
B TIER
1988 Mr. Olympia
Los Angeles / winner: Lee Haney
The only L.A. Olympia spawned our favorite program cover, evocative of Southern California bodybuilding. It features a dramatic painting by popular artist Frank Frazetta of a classically posing, idealized bodybuilder (not based on anyone in particular, as far as we know) presumedly in the Pacific Ocean before a cloudless sky and sun-like circle with an idealized Joe Weider. Powerful and beautiful.
S TIER
1989 Mr. Olympia
Rimini, Italy / winner: Lee Haney
This colorful program cover for the first two-day Mr. Olympia was, well, a mess. They clearly didn’t use Frank Frazetta for this poorly rendered painting of a bodybuilder draped in a ribbon of flags and a peppering of badge ads. The right arm ruins it.
D TIER
1990 Mr. Olympia
Chicago / winner: Lee Haney
In two years, we went from our favorite program cover to our least favorite. They didn’t even try. This is mostly just a list of sponsors.
F TIER
1991 Mr. Olympia
Orlando / winner: Lee Haney
Wait, maybe this is our least favorite. We’ve gone all the back to the grays of two decades before but without even a photo. Whatever design there is feels borrowed from a generic template. Otherwise, it just lists sponsors and advertising for the Disney World host hotel. And to think Lee Haney was trying to break the all-time win record (he would) and, for the only time, facing fast-rising Olympia rookie Dorian Yates (who’d finish a close second). The ultimate wasted opportunity.
F TIER
1993 Mr. Olympia
Atlanta / winner: Dorian Yates
We’re in full color again. A joint program for the Mr. Olympia (in Atlanta) and Ms. Olympia (held in New York City two months later) with gold medals for each. Meh.
C TIER
1995 Mr. Olympia
Atlanta / winner: Dorian Yates
As reflected in the program’s cover, the Mr. Olympia is combined with the Ms. Olympia, Masters Olympia, and first Fitness Olympia as the Olympia Weekend has become a multifaceted event. The fluorescent cover features paintings of (clockwise from upper left): Dorian Yates, Lenda Murray, Robby Robinson, Sharon Bruneau, who finished 1st, 1st, 2nd, 11th in their respective contests. Bright and bold and with faces obscured but physiques discernable, this one grabs your attention.
A TIER
1996 Mr. Olympia
Chicago / winner: Dorian Yates
The Sandow trophy (awarded to Mr. Olympia) is the main focus for the first time, but we also see (left to right): reigning Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates, reigning Ms. Olympia Lenda Murray, reigning Masters Mr. Olympia Sonny Schmidt, and reigning Fitness Ms. Olympia Mia Finnegan. (Only Yates repeated this year; the other three finished second.) This elegant program was a supplement in the September 1996 issue of Flex magazine.
A TIER
1997 Mr. Olympia
Long Beach / winner: Dorian Yates
The program cover for the second and final Olympia staged in Southern California features a Musclehedz cartoon by John Gleneicki of, per usual, a bodybuilder with an oversized body and undersized head, here in front of Long Beach’s Queen Mary. Reigning Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates and reigning Masters Mr. Olympia Vince Taylor appear in photos.
B TIER
1998 Mr. Olympia
New York City / winner: Ronnie Coleman
For the second year in a row the cover reflected the host city. This Mr. O was staged in Manhattan, so the program adopted a yellow cab theme with taxis circling the Sandow trophy. (The Olympia program pictured here was signed by 14 Mr. Olympia winners. The story of it is here. For the tier ranking, we imagined it without the autographs.)
B TIER
1999 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
Make it a three-peat for the cover reflecting the host city, as this was the first of 21 consecutive Olympias held in Las Vegas. The busy program features craps dice, roulette colors, and neon signage as well as the Sandow trophy as a medallion, a photo of the Mandalay Bay (host hotel and venue) and another of the Olympia before. Whew!
B TIER
2000 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
This program ran back the one before and just made it busier. Same Sandow with ribbon, same Mandalay photo, even the same shot from the 1998 Mr. Olympia, for some reason. Added was a picture from the 1999 Ms. Olympia and another of a fitness competitor. Too much of a good thing.
C TIER
2001 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
They pretty much ran it back for a third time. Dice, Sandow, Mandalay photo yet again. There’s also a photo of the 2000 Mr. Olympia top three (left to right): Flex Wheeler, Kevin Levrone, Ronnie Coleman; a pic from the 2000 Ms. Fitness Olympia; and a shot of the two previous Ms. Olympia weight class winners (heavyweight Valentina Chepiga, lightweight Andrulla Blanchette) with Joe Weider. It’s fine, but it’s grown tired.
C TIER
2002 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
This was the program that best nailed the Vegas theme. It’s busy but not randomly so. There’s the dice again, but there’s also a fresh concept of male bodybuilders on the king cards and females on or near the queens. We see reigning king Ronnie Coleman and royal wannabees (left to right): Dexter Jackson, King Kamali, Dennis James. (Though he was a shockingly close second the year before, Vegas resident Jay Cutler is absent because he sat this Olympia out.)
A TIER
2003 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
Though there were now three women’s divisions (bodybuilding, fitness, figure), this was the first of six Olympia program covers to focus only on the Mr. Olympia. Champ Ronnie Coleman is joined by Gunter Schlierkamp, who defeated Coleman at a contest (not the Olympia) the year before, as well as, for the first time, top contender Jay Cutler. Okay but nothing special.
C TIER
2004 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
Cut to the chase. This cover has been stripped down to just the Coleman-Cutler rivalry that everyone was most focused on (Cutler would finish second behind Coleman for the third time). Feels like an image hyping a heavyweight fight in Vegas, which it was. Classy and classic.
S TIER
2005 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
The first Olympia in the Orleans Arena made the Sandow trophy the cover model again, this time alone. The brown color scheme is almost fresh, but this just feels like a shrug. It does little to sell the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding.
C TIER
2006 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Ronnie Coleman
Ronnie Coleman is alone on this iconic cover with the line “Will history be made?” as he was pursuing a record-setting ninth Sandow. (Jay Cutler made a different kind of history by finally defeating the champ.) This one felt inevitable, but sometimes the obvious choice is the best one.
B TIER
2007 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Jay Cutler
Once again, we’re back to the Sandow trophy, which we just saw two years prior. In fact, it’s the exact same design (same trophy in the same position) with just different colors. And it was a bland design the first time. If we were grading only effort, this would get an F.
D TIER
2008 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Dexter Jackson
A great bounce-back. The first and best of several covers featuring numerous Mr. O contenders (left to right): Dennis Wolf, Dexter Jackson, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, Melvin Anthony. And here we see for the first time the new Olympia slogan: “Where Legends Are Made.” It truly makes you want to be there.
A TIER
2009 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Jay Cutler
This front doubled the previous year’s tally of contenders: seven for the Mr. Olympia and one each for (left to right) fitness, bodybuilding, and figure Ms. Olympias. First row (left to right): Kai Greene, Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, Phil Heath, Dennis Wolf. Second row: Toney Freeman, Adela Garcia, Iris Kyle, Gina Aliotti, Victor Martinez. It works, but it feels like the gang crowded out the new slogan.
B TIER
2010 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Jay Cutler
An even busier “Where Legends Are Made” cover. The front row Mr. O competitors are (left to right): Kai Greene, Branch Warren, Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, Phil Heath. The slogan is back. Nothing original here, but the format is good.
B TIER
2012 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Phil Heath
Another “Where Legends Are Made” cover with five Mr. O contenders (left to right): Dennis Wolf, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, Kai Greene, Victor Martinez. This is the only one where everyone hits the same pose—a most muscular. It’s also the last cover for Cutler, who didn’t compete this time, but returned for a final Olympia the next year.
B TIER
2013 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Phil Heath
Another but different five guys on a “Where Legends Are Made” cover (left to right): Branch Warren, Kai Greene, Phil Heath, Shawn Rhoden, Dexter Jackson. It had grown stale. The slogan is nearly lost in the place and time. And why didn’t Branch hit the same arms-folded pose as the others?
C TIER
2014 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Phil Heath
The 50th Mr. Olympia featured the same quintet on the cover as the year before. Past Mr. O winners are listed in the background. Though the five-glaring-guys theme has run its course, there’s a dynamism here that elevates it over the year before.
B TIER
2017 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Phil Heath
The first cover since 1991 without an image of either a bodybuilder or a Sandow. Past Olympia winners, male and female, are named in the murky background with its giant, ominous, Sauron-like O. Though we salute the originality, this feels like a poster for a dystopian sci-fi movie. Should we fear the Olympia?
D TIER
2018 Mr. Olympia
Las Vegas / winner: Shawn Rhoden
Eight reigning Olympia champs in all eight categories adorn the cover (top row, left to right): Angelica Teixeira, Oksana Grishina, Jeremy Buendia (second row) Breon Ansley, Cydney Gillon, Juliana Malacarne (bottom) Flex Lewis. The biggest one is Phil Heath (with six Mr. Olympia contenders within his image) who was going for his record-tying eight victory (he lost). We like the shading, which keeps you looking, and the fact that this was a fresh way to cram a lot of physiques on the same page.
A TIER
