One topic that always seems to stay at the forefront of discussion between sports fans is the great debate of how the current top performers in each league would stack up against the previous legends. Whether it be the NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, Olympics, MMA, or boxing, there is an element of undeniable progression throughout the years as each sport evolves. As training techniques are streamlined and overall standards are set higher, a linear trend of increased performance can be charted that can only be subject to a certain amount of denial based on subjective opinion. While we definitely see athletes who break the mold and leapfrog their competition followed by lulls with no standout stars, it is usually only a matter of years before the impression left by the “Golden Boy” results in a sport-wide increase in performance. We see this constantly in the Olympics with records being broken that were once considered unbreakable, and then this new achievement becoming the average that even middle of the pack finishers are expected to accomplish every time. What was once unthinkable becomes mundane, and the entire sport evolves past its previous point. Team sports are slightly easier to debate as you must also take into account the increase in defensive skill instead of simply just comparing times and numbers of a solo athlete, but there is still hard evidence that as a whole, the athletes of today are out-performing the athletes of previous decades.
And then there’s bodybuilding. Being as that it is a sport entirely judged on subjective opinion, it’s almost impossible to get a unanimous decision at a competition. Someone always gets “screwed” and of course if you’re favorite competitor didn’t win, it was probably due to his sponsor not paying the judges an appropriately handsome fee. In this day and age of internet forums, you can bet that 50% of people will disagree with the judge’s opinions. The topic at hand here isn’t “Phil vs Kai” however. One fascinating comparison we see brought up consistently is the fantasy battle between the modern line-up of Mr. Olympia contestants against the “Second Golden Era” of the 1990′s.
Now I must admit I haven’t been around long enough to play the “In my day” card, but I am going to attempt to anyways, as there is definitely some trends that I have noticed in the 12 years I have been obsessed with bodybuilding. First off, it seems that no matter who is on top, they don’t deserve to be. There are plenty of “fans” who believe Phil Heath is a poor Mr. Olympia compared to what Jay Cutler represented just a few years prior. They claim he isn’t as dominant, doesn’t possess the overwhelming size, isn’t as marketable, and the most ridiculous of all, that he is not as good of an “ambassador”. For anyone who doesn’t have the memory of a gold fish, Mr. Cutler was affectionately referred to as “The Fridge” during his reign and was constantly criticized for having a blocky shape and wide waist. It wasn’t uncommon to hear complaints of how boring his videos were, and that he didn’t possess the personality to “represent” bodybuilding. Strange. Now let’s go back a few years again, and we have Ronnie Coleman matching Lee Haney’s Olympia record. Ronnie WAS extremely popular and one of the only bodybuilders I can think of (other than Arnold) who a reasonable percentage of the general public know of. But in 2001, the consensus was that Jay Cutler beat him fair and square, and that is something that never truly left people’s minds. Sure, in 2003 Ronnie mutated into a creation no one has ever seen before and debate was minimal that year, but I sure as hell remember there being PLENTY of Jay Cutler supporters who thought Ronnie had blown out his physique was being rewarded several gifts and that Cutler presented cleaner lines and a better look. This intensified in the last several of Ronnie’s wins. Of course now we can go back and watch all of these historic wins and simultaneously wonder how anyone could bring what Ronnie brought to the stage, but I distinctly remember a percentage of bodybuilding fans who questioned several of Ronnie’s Mr. O titles. Of course if you ask now, he was flawless and the greatest of all time….but that’s not how it was at the time.
My point is that whoever is the best now, sucks. The previous Sandow holder is always better, unless we go back a few years and then they suck too. In fact, being the best in the world pretty much establishes that you are not as good as the guy in second. Ever. Dorian had torn muscles so Shawn Ray should have beaten him…unless Shawn Ray had won, then how could we ever have a 210lb champion? Kevin Levrone was certainly robbed of a few titles….but if he had won more than once, his back would have sucked and how could he possibly be awarded over other professionals with better legs?
It’s pretty obvious that we did suffer from a dip in overall quality in the early 2000′s that carried on for the better part of a decade, and I think this is responsible for a lot of the delirious nostalgia in our analysis of today’s crop of IFBB talent. If we look at the Olympia top 10 finishers for some of these years, they aren’t exactly what comes to mind when you think of the best of the best if you are using the 1990′s as the measuring stick. In 2004 and 2005, Gustavo Baddell was top 3 and Darrem Charles was top 10. Don’t get me wrong, they were both pretty amazing bodybuilders at their peak, but just a decade prior Flex Wheeler and Chris Cormier had troubles shaking into the top 3 at the height of their careers and even were as low as 8th or 9th in a few showings. In 2003, Troy Alves was 8th at the biggest bodybuilding show on Earth. While the slight decline of overall depth was rather obvious after arguably the best decade in bodybuilding history, I believe it’s time for the cranky fans to give their heads a collective shake. There is no denying the crazy talent of Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Kevin Levrone, Paul Dillet, Nasser, Dorian Yates, Chris Cormier, etc. But if you are comparing them to the gentlemen that stand in their place today, we have to clear a few details up. First off, every single person is either judging the 90′s physiques off a VCR tape transferred to YouTube, with aspect ratios and contrast sketchy at best (not to mention the lighting back then was phenomenal, there is absolutely ZERO justification for the horrendous lighting at today’s shows. There is no excuse to not pay a professional lighting crew), or they are recalling from their own memory. Second of all, we seem to only highlight the best showings of past competitors. Fact of the matter is, Flex Wheeler was out of shape just as much as he was in shape, and not everyone was showing up striated from head to toe and dry on a consistent basis. Consistency is one of the most impressive qualities in a bodybuilder, because it is so rare. I am just going to come out and say, Phil Heath would easily be in the mix against the previously mentioned gentlemen if all were at their best, and considering they rarely were, he would have had their number more often than not. And I honestly feel like that is a restrained comparison, as Mr. Heath has all the size needed in every single body part, which even the “Uncrowned Olympia’s” certainly did not. He really is that damn good.
2014, we have bodybuilders who could potentially get a DNP in Las Vegas that could have been top 5 potentials 10 years ago. Big Ramy was 8th last year (arguably could have been 6th) and the physique he presented would have blown Gustavo Badell out of the water. Breakout stars like Justin Compton have matured so quickly that bodybuilders who were touted as the next big thing just a handful of years ago have seemingly been deemed irrelevant when talking about creating a long term impact on the sport. The depth has become so deep that it’s easy to forget we have people like Cedric McMillan who COULD (keyword) turn it up and win a big title. In the late 2000′s, it did seem as though we as bodybuilding and media were grasping for talent and over-hyping anyone who came along with potential. We so desperately wanted to see something better than we had before, that even an amateur with freaky quads in Trey Brewer was being touted as a future Olympian. I think it’s safe to say that we have moved past that Dark Age, and are experiencing the beginning of a new Golden Era. Although definitely an amazing bodybuilder overall, I don’t believe we will see someone like Shawn Rhoden in legitimate contention for top 2 in the world in the years to come. In 2012 he was a threat, it is undeniable, but as the field of competition rises in quality, strictly bringing a “pleasing” physique to the stage will not be enough when you consider his weak points. I only single Rhoden out due to the fact he was considered the best up-and-comer in the last few years, and truly is a remarkable bodybuilder, but is surrounded by new talent that is progressing so fast it is pushing guys of his caliber out of the limelight.
With the combination of ridiculously gifted new talent and the existing top echelon honing their physiques to perfection, it is undeniable that this is the beginning to a truly special time in professional bodybuilding. I recommend you embrace it and enjoy it while it lasts…or of course you could continue to bitch, and then wait ten years until it sucks again and talk about how much better the IFBB was in 2014.
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