Bash 2002 Report and Photo Archive

Henrik's US Travel Report 2002

What a fantastic two week experience in the US it has been! Seeing Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Southern Utah and going to the Mr. Olympia Expo, the Ms. Olympia and Ms. Fitness Olympia prejudging, the Mr. Olympia finals and on top of all that the Frank Zane & Dave Draper seminar and seeing everyone at the IronOnline Bash02 weekend!!

I'm writing about the whole two weeks one day at the time, kinda like a diary, so those of you who only want to read about the Bash02 or Mr. Olympia finals can just jump down to Friday and Saturday's events.

Monday October 14:
18 hours after leaving home I arrived in Las Vegas around 10pm. Flying in over Las Vegas at night is quite a sight. First surprise was the slot-machines in the airport! I later found out that they are everywhere, like in grocery stores and gas stations. Welcome to crazy Las Vegas!

I picked up my rental car, Pontiac Grand Prix (gotta love those American cars), and headed for the hotel.

(not) Henrik's rental car

Tuesday October 15:
Drove up to Mandalay Bay to check out the place. Driving up Las Vegas Blvd. towards The Strip was really exiting. What a skyline! And WOW, I have never in my life seen a hotel like Mandalay. It's HUGE!! I continued to the Luxor hotel (the pyramid) and once again I was like... WOW. Next stop Excalibur and—WOW.

Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

In the afternoon I did a workout in Gold's Gym East. I have seldom seen so much equipment packed in to one place. There was some pretty hardcore training going on there. I saw a girl do benchpress with 225 lbs! I also saw that cell-phones is as big a problem in US gyms as it has become in Denmark. There was an idiot there who talked on his cell-phone in one arm and at the same time did a dumbbell exercise with the other arm! After the workout, jetlag hit me like a boomerang.

Wednesday October 16:
The big Las Vegas sightseeing day. I started at Excalibur and then went on to see, New York-New York, MGM-Grand where there was a really good Frank Sinatra impersonator. Tram to Bally's, then Paris-Paris where I went up the Eiffel Tower. What a fantastic view! Went on to Aladdin, Bellagio, Caesars Palace and the Forum shops. Next were the Mirage with the tigers. At this time I was getting a little tired which kinda disappointed me, until I realized I had been walking around for almost 7 hours! Enough sightseeing for today.

New York, New York... Las Vegas

Thursday October 17:
In the morning I trained with Bill L. and Bill2 at Gold's Gym East. This sounds so casual, but you know, it hit me while I was there: I'm actually in Las Vegas, training in Gold's Gym with Bill L. and Bill2. How about that! I can now confirm that they are in fact two different persons.

At 1pm Bill2 and I went to Mandalay Bay to see the Ms. Olympia and Ms. Fitness Olympia prejudging.

The Ms. Olympia was divided in two weightclasses. Heavy and light. Lenda Murray was doing a comeback in the heavyweights and last years comeback winner, Juliette Bergmann, was in the lightweight class. In my opinion Lenda Murray was in a class of her own. When she turned around and did a back double biceps pose the crowd went crazy.

We didn't sit in the front section, so at one point I wanted to get up front to get some good pictures of Lenda Murray. I had spotted two empty chairs right behind the judges. I went up there, sat down, when a voice behind me said "can I help you?". I turned around and it was Steve Weinberger (Bev Francis's husband - remember him from Pumping Iron 2) sitting in his official IFBB suit. "Duh - I just wanna get some pictures". He then very politely told me that those chairs were only for the press and I'd better get back where I came from. Ha ha, my first "conversation" with Steve Weinberger wasn't exactly how I had imagined it would be.

Lenda Murray later won the heavyweight and overall Ms. Olympia title. Juliette Bergmann won the lightweights.

Unlike the Ms. Olympia contestants who probably shave every morning, the Ms. Fitness Olympia contestants looked like really good natural athletes. Their free programs where mind-blowing, but as Bill2 reminded me, these ARE the best in the world.

The whole prejudging was run very professionally and was over in just two hours or so.

Later I had a really enjoyable dinner with Bill2 and Dolores.

In the evening I went up to see the fountains at Bellagio. That whole area around the Bellagio and Paris-Paris is really beautiful at night.

Friday October 18:
Around 10am Bill2 and I met at the Mr. Olympia Expo at Mandalay Bay. One of the first things Bill2 tells me is that Bill Pearl is there! I could hardly believe it. What a surprise! Bill Pearl is one of my all time favorite bodybuilders. Bill2 first had a small chat with Bill Pearl and then introduced me. Bill Pearl still looks good and you would never guess that his age is 71. I got a picture with me and Bill and he got the story about my roadtrip to Oregon two years ago where I drove by his business (a house-like place) in Phoenix (Oregon), hoping to meet him, but no one was there. He confirmed what I had suspected, that he didn't live at his business house, but in a place up in the mountains. It was such a pleasure meeting Bill Pearl and right now I can think of a lot of things I should have asked him, but forgot about.

Olympia Expo

Another highlight at the Expo was George Hemlick's Steve Reeves booth. Had I brought more money I would probably have bought everything they had for sale. They also had the original Sandow statue on display.

Bill2 and I also saw Lou "I need money before you take my picture" Ferrigno. I was VERY disappointed with Lou's attitude. He was the ONLY one at the Expo who wanted you to buy something before you could take a picture. What a shame. But you live and learn I guess.

We then met Vicki Masterson and Len and Jamie. We all decided to check out the Muscle Beach replica, outside at the Mandalay Beach. I have to say that the Muscle Beach replica was somewhat of a flop.

We headed back to the Expo and now that Bill2 had taught me how to behave, I was ready to be let loose on my own. I basically walked around trying to see as much as possible and get pictures of as many former and current bodybuilding stars as possible. I remember seeing Cory Everson, Bev Francis, Dorian Yates, Bill Kazmeyer, Rich Gaspari, Vince Taylor, Darrem Charles and many others.

Kaz and fan

I finally met Laree who insisted on getting a picture of me and a girl dressed like a big walking egg!! And like everyone knows, you can't say no to Laree.

[I'm graciously not posting the embarrassing Henrik with the egg-girl photo. Laree]

I also spent some time close to the Frank Zane and Dave Draper booth. It was such a fantastic feeling standing there and seeing the expressions in peoples faces when they realized it was Frank and Dave standing there together. The booth was crowded the whole time I was there (also got my picture with Frank and Dave).

While I was there I remember meeting Rockin Ken Kay & Jean and John & Dorothy Baron (and probably others whose names escape me at the moment).

Henrik and Bill Pearl

Later Bill Pearl came over and seeing all 3 together, Frank Zane, Dave Draper and Bill Pearl is a moment I'll never forget. Bob Kennedy also came by the booth.

Later in the afternoon Mike "22 inch guns" Matarazzo and Jean Pierre "I'm just about to give birth" Fux, were standing on the Expo stage throwing out free T-shirts to the crowd. I was standing there shooting pictures and through the lens of my camera I saw Fux throw a T-shirt like a projectile in my exact direction. My only reaction was to lower the camera and........SMACK - I caught the T-shirt right in my face - it must have looked pretty funny. It fell to the ground and people were diving in from everywhere to get it. I escaped with only a few bruises and my clothes intact.

22-inch arms

Just before leaving I ran into Lon B. & Lisa and Bill F. who had seen Ed Corney and I could tell Lon that Bill Pearl was there, which I think made Lon's day.

In the evening I went to the IOL get-together at Gold's Gym East. There was already many people there when I arrived. Some I had already met last year like Corey, Guy Miller and his brother Dan, and others I met for the first time like Sam, Stella, Stingo, Art, Ed, Hans, Kevin. Again I can't remember all the names.

Stingo presses; Art, Len and Bill K supervise

There was such a great and relaxed atmosphere and although many had never met before there was a great feeling of camaraderie from the very beginning. The two hours passed by very fast.

Bill, Guy, Jeanne, Jim, Elaine, Rockin, staff member
Dave, Kevin, Lizzy, Summer, Stella

Saturday October 19:
The day of the IronOnline Bash 2002 is one of those days that will forever be printed in the memory of everyone who was there. I arrived at Paradise Park in Las Vegas at about 11am shaking a lot of hands among those everyone from Friday night. Lots of grins and talk and camera's clicking. Every IOL'er that I met are even greater people in real life.

Paradise Park, Las Vegas

Frank Zane was there with his wife Christine. The seminar with Frank Zane and Dave started a little late. Questions would be asked and Frank and Dave would answer sometimes in agreement and sometimes with different point of views. I noticed that Frank would often answer the questions by explaining what he did now at this point in his career, while Dave would answer with what he thought was best for the person who asked the question.

There was some really good advice about avoiding shoulder injuries: Don't train your upper body two days in a row and the bench press will a some point always give you an injury.

There was also some history stuff. Frank Zane told us that he arrived in Venice in 1969 for the first time. He checked out The Dungeon Gym and thought to himself that "I could never train in this place. It's dark and it smells and has lousy equipment" (lots of laughs). He eventually trained in Gold's instead.

Frank Zane

The seminar was great, but it was over way to fast. The barbecue was also great. One highlight was when Laree brought out her collection of old bodybuilding magazines from the 40s – 70s. What a treasure! At this point it was no longer possible to get in contact with Bill2 who was traveling down memory lane.

Cajun John, Bill L, Guy M,. Sprague C, Bill K

Even though I stayed to 5.30pm I didn't get to talk to all the people I wanted to. Time flies. Next up was the Mr. Olympia finals.

Click here to continue to Part 2

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