Mentzer's take on the 1980 olympia

[gjoe]

3. Q. I would like to turn back 20 years and ask you about the most controversial Mr. Olympia in history. I am talking, of course, about the 1980 Mr. Olympia that took place in Sydney. Everybody thought at that time that the winner would prevail after a strong battle between you and Frank Zane, as it had happened exactly 1 year before in the 1979 Mr. Olympia. Surprisingly, you finished 5th and Mr.Zane finished 3rd. What do you believe really happened that day?

M.M. The 1980 Mr. Olympia was definitely fixed. The promoter of that contest was Paul Graham, a very, very close friend of Arnold's. As it turned out, while the rules stated that individuals had to officially enter their application to compete one month before the contest, the IFBB bent the rule and let Arnold enter the day before! He waited that long because by that point he knew who the judges were. CBS, who was there to film the event for future televising, was convinced it was fixed and discovered that a majority of the judges had either close personal or financial ties with Arnold. Well, so convinced - and pissed off - was CBS Sports that, despite the time, money and effort required to send a film crew half way around the world to Australia to film a sporting event, they refused to air that contest. As further evidence, I suggest you view the video of the 1980 Mr. Olympia, which can be purchased from my Web site.

[gjoe]

BTW the gym owner at my gym who has been a trainer/bodybuilder for 45 years and who has been to all the olympia competitions from the late sixties till today told me that he thought sergio oliva had beaten arnold fair and square in arnold's first olympia victory competition. the 1980 competition, he found that almost laughable.