Bash 2002 Report and Photo Archive

Henrik's US Travel Report 2002
Part 2

The Mr. Olympia finals 2002:
The Mr. Olympia finals was held at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Laree had helped me get a ticket for the finals and I couldn't have asked for a better seat. I sat on the left hand side of the stage, so close that I could almost reach out and touch the contestants.

I arrived 10 minutes to 7pm and Ben Weider had already started his speech and introductions. Ben, who must be over 70, looked exactly like he always has and in good health. Ben also gave a special award (IFBB's highest award; The Golden Medal and Ribbon) to Ove Rytter from Sweden who is a former bodybuilder and writer of several books and founder of B&K Sportsmagazine, the biggest bodybuilding magazine in Scandinavia. Ove also had a gift to Ben Weider. I don't think many know this, but Sweden has the oldest bodybuilding federation in the world and was one of the pioneer countries of the sport. Ove gave Ben a framed poster-size drawing of the oldest known workout-machine, an armcurl machine, made in Sweden around 1890. Neat, huh?

At 7.15pm the contest started. The 23 contestants came on stage one after the other and did their free routines to music. I don't follow the current bodybuilding scene that closely so I didn't know all of the names, but most.

Like I've said before I have a really ambivalent relationship with bodybuilding. On one side I'm against all kind of drug use, but on the other side I can't help being impressed by some (few) of todays pro's. Like my personal favorite Flex Wheeler (7th) who looked incredible at the Olympia. He reminded my of Robby Robinson. Another is Darrem Charles (16th) who also has the classical lines like the Golden Era bodybuilders. Both Flex and Darrem showed what I like to call "mass with class".

Then there was the mass-monsters like Nasser El Sonbaty (15th) and Markus Ruhl (8th) who don't inspire me at all. I mean, when did bodybuilding go from being a sport where the contestants had really big muscles and outstanding shape and thin waists, to a sport where the contestants have so exaggerated big muscles and big belly's that they look like blimps? Something has gone really wrong!

It was easy to identify the crowd favorites. The first really big applause went to Kevin Levrone. But the German Gunter Schlierkamp brought the house down. Even I had to surrender. Gunter looked awesome. He was BIG but still had ok symmetry and no (!!) GH gut like the other big guys. His muscles had the kind of separation and striations you usually have to go back to the early 80s to find anything similar. And he LOOKED great. Blond hair, blue metallic posing trunks (!! like Dave in 1965) and good skin color.

He looked like a winner if you know what I mean. And everyone could see it. He even did a lot of the oldtime poses that you don't see to often now, like the side biceps poses the way Arnold used to do them. The crowd at this point started shouting "GUNTER, GUNTER, GUNTER..." and he got a HUGE applause.

Gunter Schlierkamp

Ronnie Coleman also got a good applause, but it was only half-hearted. Ronnie had a very visible gut hanging out and didn't look in top shape.

After the free posing routines all contestants came on stage to get a medal from Joe Weider. When Joe came to Gunter Schlierkamp the audience all of a sudden broke out in a big applause and started shouting "GUNTER, GUNTER, GUNTER...". Joe Weider sort of turned around facing the audience to see what the fuzz was about. None of the other contestants got a similar reaction from the crowd.

Then the 10 finalists were announced and the 13 others left the stage. Placings 10 to 7 was then announced and until this point the crowd seemed to agree with the judges.

Now there was only 6 left and the tension was starting to build. Again the crowd was shouting "GUNTER, GUNTER, GUNTER". Then came the posedown with the final 6 contestants. The posedown went on for a pretty long time and the crowd was shouting and hollering.

Posedown, Mr. Olympia, 2002

After the judges had given the final points it was time to announce the final 6 places. 6th place went to Lee Priest, the crowd was ok with that.

Then came the bomb: "5th place goes to..........Gunter Schlierkamp". The crowd went absolutely crazy. People were shouting at the judges and booing and this went on for what seemed like a very long time. Then came "GUNTER, GUNTER, GUNTER".

Since I didn't care who placed where, I was really enjoying the whole thing. It reminded me of Rick Waynes report from Mr. Olympia 1981 "The greatest booing contest of all time". I'd say 2002 comes in on a close 2nd place.

Before leaving the stage Gunter did some poses and then went over to the microphone. He said: "The placing doesn't matter to me, you guys made my day". Again there was a huge applause and more "GUNTER, GUNTER, GUNTER". It was great <g>.

Dexter Jackson was 4th and Chris Cormier 3rd. Then came the next big upset. The two men left on stage was Ronnie Coleman and Kevin Levrone. Now the crowd started shouting "KEVIN, KEVIN, KEVIN" - he was now the crowds favorite.

And the following I'll never forget. "2nd place goes to........Kevin Levrone" - Ha ha, they couldn't have made a worse choice. The crowd now went totally crazy. Throwing paper cups and shouting "it's fixed, it's fixed". Someone next to me shouted "I want my money back, the whole thing is fixed". And people started leaving the theater while shouting at the same time.

Well, I wasn't leaving. I was really enjoying myself and wanted to see everything. Ronnie Coleman received his first place award with no applause. He also received a car that came onstage. When the theater was more than half empty, Ronnie went up the microphone and started his "thank you" speech. The whole thing was almost surreal.

Medal ceremony, Mr. O, 2002

After the speech nothing more happened and I decided to leave. What an evening it had been. I definitely got my moneys worth. One thing is for sure; it wasn't boring.

Sunday October 20:
I started the day with a morning workout at Gold's. Bill L. was there too. There was some photo sessions going on with 3 of the Mr. Olympia contestants. Lee Priest and the two others I believe was George Farah and Jaroslav Horvath.

Stella, Rockin, Henrik

After that I went to the IOL brunch at Excalibur. I remember telling the story about the Mr. Olympia finals at least a dozen times. Again at the brunch there was such a great feeling of camaraderie and it all ended too fast. When it was time to leave it was like everyone didn't really want to leave, but had to.

Bash Brunch

In the afternoon I went up to see the Stratosphere Tower. With a height of more than 1,000 feet (110-story) there's a spectacular view from the outdoor observatory at the top. You can see the whole Las Vegas area.

Stratosphere Tower, Las Vegas

Monday October 21:
I drove down to see Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. By pure coincidence I arrived at Hoover Dam exactly the same time as Bill2 & Dolores. The Dam is a pretty impressive sight. Did you know that at some places the Dam is more than 600 feet wide?

Tuesday 22 - Thursday 24:
The big Nevada- Arizona- Utah roadtrip.

Grand Canyon

What can I say - seeing Grand Canyon in Arizona is probably THE most spectacular sight I have ever seen. You can't describe it and pictures doesn't even come close to the real thing. I now know that you have to see it to understand what the fuzz is all about. It really takes your breath away and you just stare and stare. It also makes you humble. You understand that it has been there for million of years before you and it will be there for millions of years after you. When approaching the canyon from the south you can't see the canyon until you're literally standing on the very edge of the canyon which makes the sight even more overwhelming. By the way, someone forgot to mention that it's fr-fr-fr-freeeezing cold up there <g>.

Lake Powell

Northern Arizona and southern Utah is very very beautiful in a dramatic kinda way. It's like the landscape changes every half hour when you drive through it and some places is like nothing I have ever seen before like the Lake Powell area. Zion National Park is perhaps the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen especially since all the trees had the fall colors. Coming in from the north entrance to the park my jaw fell down when I came out on the other side of the tunnel and saw Zion Canyon for the first time. What a sight!!

Zion Canyon, Utah

The whole roadtrip was a fantastic experience in itself. One thing I remember thinking was that I really got to feel how BIG America is! I would drive for hours with no sight of any civilization other than the road I was driving on. And this was only a little corner of America.

I returned to Las Vegas Thursday night.

Friday October 25:
Another busy sightseeing day. I saw some of the hotels that I hadn't seen the first week, like the Venetian, Treasure Island, Monte Carlo and the Hilton where Elvis used to perform plus the Star Trek Experience (pretty cool).

Paris, Las Vegas

In the afternoon I drove out west of Las Vegas to see the Red Rock Canyon national conservation area. Another unusual and spectacular piece if American nature only a half hour drive from the city.

The day ended with a really enjoyable dinner with Bill L. and Nancy at the Oyster Bar at Sunset Station.

Saturday October 26:
Time to go home.

What a fantastic two-week experience it has been!! The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen has said that "to travel is to live" and I can only agree. I have seldom felt more alive than during these two weeks. It's like all your senses are totally open and ready to absorb any new impressions that comes your way. There's no past and no future, there's just right here and right now.

It's been a week since I returned home and the vacation is still spinning around in my head. I know from previous experiences that it's gonna take me a couple of months to "digest" all the new impressions and then I'll be ready for the next big adventure.

See you next year!!

Henrik "The House"

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