Power to the People: Why Ronnie Coleman should not be Mr. Olympia - No-Baloney Levrone - Brief Article

Flex, Feb, 2002 by Kevin Levrone

I'm a believer in giving the fans what they want. The bodybuilding aficionados deserve to get what they pay for when they throw down $200 for prime seats at a top-tier show. Right now, I'm going on the record to say that the fans are not getting their money's worth.

Coming off the 2001 Mr. Olympia, where I placed third despite being in excellent condition once again, I'm more convinced than ever that Ronnie Coleman should no longer bear the title of Mr. Olympia. This is the second consecutive Mr. O gift for Ronnie, and I'm not prepared to hang back in the weeds and let an injustice go without fair comment.

The plain truth is that I beat Ronnie last year [2000] and Jay Cutler beat Ronnie this year. You should not win the Mr. Olympia if your stomach is hanging out -- period. Last year, I patted Ronnie's stomach during the posedown to draw attention to the fact that he was bloated. That tactic obviously didn't work, and Ronnie beat me in the posedown to successfully defend his title for a third straight Mr. O triumph.

During the 2001 press conference, I hammered on the point that no standing Mr. O champion has ever been beaten [in fact, Sergio Oliva, in 1970, and Samir Bannout, in 1984, lost their titles onstage] and that something is wrong with an it's-over-before-it-even-gets-started attitude surrounding the contest. I don't train for second place, and I want the opportunity to get a fair shot at toppling Ronnie -- or any Mr. Olympia -- from his throne.

So now the show rolls around and Jay Cutler beats Ronnie in both prejudging rounds: symmetry and muscularity. Ronnie was spilling over with too much water during the muscularity round, and Cutler took it to him in many of the poses that Coleman usually dominates.

How can Cutler lose this contest if he wins in both symmetry and muscularity? How can Ronnie retain his title if his midsection is bloated and distended? Why should the fans get behind a champion who can't present an aesthetic image of what bodybuilding is supposed to be all about?

I'm talking about classical proportions, perfect symmetry and ideal conditioning. Based on that ideal, I should have won the Sandow in 2000, and Cutler should have taken it in 2001.

The fans deserve better than what they are getting. I'm already working hard to ensure that, in 2002, a true peoples' champ can strip the title away from Ronnie Coleman.