and I was a competitor and fifth place finisher at this year's
JOE WEIDER'S MASTERS MR OLYMPIA 2001.
The contest was conceived by Joe as a means to bring back the heroes of the past,
but on the level playing field of an age qualification.
The old time fans of bodybuilding often debate, as do many of the fans of other sports,
e.g.: boxing, tennis; etc..who would have been the best if there was a way to make all the factors equal.
Reality however can't ever give us those comparisons.
So the next best thing was done, we started getting age group athletics, swimming, tennis, cycling,
and although always a part of amateur bodybuilding,
now finally our own professional age group competition.
In a way, it is not much different to when mr. Weider started the open Mr. olympia competition,
there was nowhere else for the bodybuilders to go, they'd retire well before their realized potential.
The Masters is different in that not all athletes are as good as they once were,
Some of this observation is false because they are judged by current standards.
[ the rate of muscular improvement is staggering, we now have guys that outdo the caricatures
we used to draw out of our imaginations].
Some have actually slipped a little, but not much.
Then there are those that have actually exceeded their best of twenty years ago.
The message is clear.
"YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE OVER THE HILL AT FORTY, FIFTY, OR EVEN SIXTY"
It is a message of importance to the social conditioning of the "expected downhill slide".
The body is an adaptive mechanism, it will still respond to things as it would when it was young.
Granted, with age recovery slows,
but the fundamental adaptation to progressive resistance is still the same.
The only variable that needs to be closely observed is volume and frequency,
this will need to decrease with age.
How much is best determined by trial and error, or the help of a very good personal trainer.
The first masters olympia was in 1994, it was a much anticipated event.
To us old timers it was as important as the open olympia,
with Lou Farringo on an incredible comeback roll after a seventeen year hiatus from the sport,
and of course there was the enigmatic Robby, Boyer Coe, Chris dickerson,
Bearnard seally And quite a few others.
I was in the Audience, and it was as exciting as any event I've ever seen in our sport.
Robby won that night...
and if you'd have told me that I'd be competing against him in six years time
[ and that he'd be even better], I' d have thought you were crazy.
Lou was very disappointed about not winning, so much so that he retired from the sport.
It hurt the event, the next year just didn't create the same build up as before,
even though it had the dethroning of the title holder Robby, to Sunny Schmitt.
It seemed not many of the old legends were willing to don their trunks for another try.
We were hoping for Zane, Samir, Bertil Fox was getting close to age Jusup Wilcos.
What we got were athletes from europe, who seemed to have a different qualifying system.
It was clear that it was not going to be an all legend event,
and with Vince Taylor as the current champion,
with a physique that could stand the rigors of ANY open pro show, and do well,
it was going to either become a different contest, or just die out.
In 1998 there was no masters "O", we thought this was the end.
Thanks to the efforts of Jan Tanna,
an established promoter of successful women's bodybuilding and fitness shows,
both amateur and professional, the show was given a second chance by being included
in the pro Jan Tana bodybuilding and fitness weekend.
Our competition has had a home in Virginia ever since.
Then the N P C introduced a new rule in 1998,
stating the the overall winner of the N P C masters national would be eligible for a pro card,
therefore enter the masters "O".
It was met with great enthusiasm from masters competitors all over the country.
It has always been hard for masters competitors
to gain their respect level of the young up and commers.
I used to like to compete as an amateur in both masters and open,
and on more than one occasion at a regional level at least was able to win both.
2001 MASTERS OLYMPIA
The standard of the show keeps rising, as was evident by the 2001 event.
The 2001 masters olympia was held over a two day period.
Prejudging was at an elementary school auditorium on friday night.
The finals were held on Saturday night at a different venue,
and the masters was the conclusion of the evenings events,
[including finals of the pro woman's bodybuilding, and pro woman's fitness].
The prejudging stage was a bit too small to accommodate the sixteen competitors.
Let me digress briefly to mention that the seventeenth man, Ali Mala,
was struck with a severe case of appendicitis 10 - 12 hours before the prejudging.
Lisa,[ my girlfriend] and I...
...... flew with him from LAX, and he complained about stomach upset,
but truthfully and shamefully, we paid it no mind. I do not know Ali all that well, but even through his clothes he looked like he could have factored in the running.
He was operated right there in Lynch burg & from what I can gather he is ok.
Back to the stage, we had to split the line in order to be compared in two stages.
The lighting was rather uneven which could be good or bad, depending where you were standing.
In round one when closer comparisons of threes were needed,
The newcomer John Youngblood was the first to be called out.
John looked phenomenal, but I was a bit surprised.
It almost seems to be a traditional token of respect to call out the current champ first
... unless he looks off.
While Vince was not as hard as Don he was improved over the previous year, especially in the quads.
He really put some size on them.
Anyway,Vince was called to one side and John Hnydashack to the other.
After some pretty thorough scrutinizing of the top three,
the rest of us fought it out for the remaining places.
Round two was very similar in callout sequence,
so at the conclusion of the prejudging we had a fair idea of the top three or four,
but would have to wait the suspenseful day till the final outcome for the rest of us.
The final auditorium was much better,
there was excitement and tension because
the word was that after two roundsDon Was ahead of Vince.
Round three went off without a hitch,
we all tried to convince the judges that maybe we were one place higher that they thought yesterday.
Vince did what he does when he poses, HE EXCELS.
He was given round three, with the top fife compulsories, and posedown to find the answer.
I must say the posedown was fun, it was an honor to be in such an elite group,
I tried to pose next to don a lot, because a really wanted a comparison with him at the prejudging.
As is usually the case the judges decision between Don and myself
was right, but we went at it anyway.
Vince posed mainly alone as if to separate himself as the true winner.
FINAL RESULTS
1st
VINCE TAYLOR
[ IN MY OPINION THE RIGHT DECISION]
2 nd
DON YOUNGBLOOD
[ WHAT A SURPRISE, HE WAS OUTSTANDING,....should compete open as well]
3 rd
JOHN HNYDASHACK
[ FANTASTIC ABS, BIG ARMS FOR HIS FRAME, DEFINED, but not thick,
BACK, chest development is lacking,
THIGHS SMALL BUT CUT, HAMSTRINGS CUT but flat,
SYMMETRY GOOD FROM FRONT AND BACK,
appears to have curvature of the upper spine, in the side symmetry poses.
JOHN,..... IF YOU READ THIS, I MEAN NO DISRESPECT,
I'VE BEEN MEANING TO EMAIL YOU ANYWAY
,........ in my opinion, not as clear a third as the judge sheet indicated,
I have to admit of course I was not sitting in front like the official judges,
just offering observations.
4 Th
ROBBY ROBINSON
[ OF COURSE A LIVING LEGEND,
I HAD PHOTOS OF ROBBY ON MY WALL, WHEN I WAS A BOY,
FOR INSPIRATION. HE SIMPLY DEFIES AGE.
I felt he may not have been quite as good as last year,
of course that may have been an illusion due to the fact that the standard had risen]
5 Th
HANS HOPSTAKEN
[ IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE THAT I COMMENT ON THIS,
OTHER THAT I FEEL THAT I DESERVED SOME COMPARISONS
TO THE NEXT THREE ATHLETES ABOVE ME,
not saying the outcome wasn't right but I believe it was close enough to warrant a comparison or two]
THEY WERE THE TOP FIVE PLACEMENTS;
......worthy of note,
LEE APPERSON
A well deserved jump in placement to 8 Th.
[ in my opinion could have placed even higher,
11 th
AIVIRS VISOCKIS
in my opinion was really overlooked, i felt he deserved MUCH HIGHER than 11 th.
