Arnold Schwarzeneggar

Many people, us included, hold Arnold to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

In the 1970s, this was undisputed as Arnold held the Mr Olympia title an unprecedented 7 times, having previously won Mr World five times.

When Lee Haney won his 8th Sandow in 1991, he eclipsed The Oak's record. Then Ronnie Coleman equalled Haney with his own 8th Sandow in 2005. So Arnold, in some people's eyes, is relegated to "third" greatest, behind the two 8-ers.

Let's examine this.

Haney won his 8th in 1991. That was Dorian Yates' first Olympia in which The Shadow came second to Lee. In 1992 Dorian came back better than ever and won his first O. Dorian maintains that if Haney had competed in 92 that he still would have won, that he would have unseated the Champ. Many people, including us, agree with him.

Coleman won his 8th O in 2005. When he competed in 2006, he lost to Jay Cutler. Cutler was Mr O two years in a row and Ronnie never got his 9th Sandow. Then Jay was beaten by Dexter Jackson in 2008, the man who currently holds the title. There is no realistic chance of Ronnie ever coming back and taken the Mr O from Dex, or Jay, or any of the up and coming hungry young competitors.

Ronnie and Haney were never destined to get a 9th.
Maybe 8 is the limit.

So why did Arnie never get an 8th, or even a 9th?

Arnie won 6 Sandows in a row, 1970 - 1975. Nobody came close. He retired after this to pursue an acting career, and we all know how that turned out. What would Arnold have gained from staying in the sport when he had an unprecedented 6 wins, and had a big movie career waiting?

Arnold was succeeded by Franco Columbo in 1976, then Frank Zane won the next 3 years 77-79. Arnold could have beaten both of them on all four occasions had he kept competing. This would have given him 10 Sandows.

In 1980, while preparing for his Conan film, Arnie got back in Olympia shape. In a bold move he entered the O that year and won his 7th Sandow. Had he been competing right through it would have been his 11th.

There speculation about Mike Mentzer, Boyer Coe, etc, but watch "Total Rebuild" and you'll see Arnold is way ahead of all of them.

Arnold retired, this time for good.

The O was won by Columbo again in 1981, then by Samir Bannout in 1982, and Chris Dickerson in 1982.

Arnold could easily have beaten all of them and made 14 Sandows if he had wanted. But he had far better things to do.

It's also possible that in Haney's first year, he would not have been able to unseat the Oak, so Arnold could well have made it 15!

Just because he didn't, it doesn't maean he couldn't.

Arnold Schwarzeneggar is without a doubt the greatest bodybuilder of all time.