2010 Mr. Olympia Judging
Report by Ron Harris
This year’s Mr. Olympia is once again full of surprises. Once again, some of the heavily hyped men didn’t quite hit their mark, while others who weren’t expected to be major factors snuck up from behind and now look to be pulling ahead of the pack.
Will Jay repeat for a fourth title? It does look that way, but it certainly won’t be in the dominant fashion he showed last year when he crushed the field to regain what he had lost the year before to Dexter. His biggest threats were supposed to come in the form of Phil Heath and Kai Greene. Phil is still going to push him, but Kai looks to be battling just to be in the top five right now. Dexter Jackson could be as high as second place, though Branch Warren may very well repeat his runner-up finish. Roelly Winklaar was never a threat this time, and Victor, much improved since last year, could drop to lower than the sixth he took in 2009. One of the biggest shockers is the redemption of Dennis Wolf, who seems to be back in the form that made his a top five athlete in both 2007 and 2008.
Since all 22 competitors worked their asses off to be here tonight, I feel they all deserve at least a few words.
#1 Branch Warren
Somehow Branch managed to draw number one again and was the first man to take the stage. And again, he set the bar sky-high. Nobody was as hard as Branch this time. At 251 pounds, he was thick, nasty, dry, and grainy yet with that elusive fullness you rarely see when a man achieves this level of conditioning. As the night wore on, your mind kept returning to the image of Branch, and how he had something special that simply no one else did. Could he win? Stranger things have happened, people.
#2 Troy Alves
If this ends up being the last Mr. Olympia for Troy as he’s proclaimed it will be, he can go out with pride on a high note. After many years of struggling to get his glutes and hams lean and hard enough, Troy has done it several times this season already. His classic shape is what many in the sport wish was still the ideal, but in 2010 we have grown to expect more overall mass and better leg development.
#3 Erik Fankenhouser
Erik clearly worked hard to come into his first Mr. Olympia in shape, and that he did. From the waist down he blows most of the guys away, but his upper body still has a long way to go to hang with the best in the world. On a side note, it was driving me crazy the way head judge Jim Manion kept mispronouncing his name as “Frankenhouser!”
#4 Dennis Wolf
This was a huge improvement over last year’s disastrous showing, and even a little better than he looked in New York back in May. Dennis has an amazing structure and is a very big man at 5-11 and 270 pounds. All he seems to lack, aside from calves which he is not alone in needing, is a more mature look to his muscles, with deeper separations and more detail. By the way he kept popping back into callouts, Wolf may be back in the top five this year.
#5 Marcus Haley
Haley was as hard as nails, but the Mr. Olympia is a big man’s show. In less competitive lineups he’s fine, but here in the land of giants he needs more mass to be a factor.
#6 Roelly Winklaar
Many veterans of the iron game hesitated to jump on the Roelly bandwagon after his win in New York, waiting to see how he would fare against the very best. Their doubts were affirmed, as Roelly does not appear to be quite ready yet to battle men at the level of Jay, Branch, and Phil. He needs a lot more chest thickness first. I know he had been sick a few weeks ago which definitely took away some of his fullness, but even so, Winklaar is a man whose potential is still very much waiting to be fulfilled in the next couple years. I don’t doubt he will be far more dangerous at the Mr. Olympia someday soon.
#7 Ed Nunn
Coming off his first pro win in Hartford two months ago, Ed held his condition quite well. His arms and legs were among the best in the show, but Ed still needs to fill out his torso.
#8 Eugene Mishin
The Russian was huge and shredded, in better condition than a few of the men who are going to beat him. I have to give this man a lot of credit for taking what is not the best genetic shape and structure and doing more with it than any of us expected.
#9 Victor Martinez
Speaking of genetic shape and structure, Victor probably has the best in the world. And his condition was the best I’ve seen since he nearly won this show three years ago. Even his legs seem to be back to what they were before his knee injury in early 2008. But he just didn’t have that crisp, dry look that would have catapulted him into a position to battle Jay once again.
#10 Robert Pietrokowicz
From Poland, Robert was making his Olympia debut and showed up looking more than ready. He also seems to have added some decent size since I last saw him six months ago at the Arnold. But like Haley and Alves, he has a long way to go in terms of mass to give the top men at this contest a run for their money.
#11 Dennis James
It was announced that this would be the final contest for Dennis James after 12 years as a pro. If that’s true, he can say he went out with pride and at his best. At 255 pounds yet without the abdominal distension we’ve seen from him before at this size, Dennis was in fantastic shape. I’d like to thank him for being one of our best pro’s for over a decade and wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors.
#12 Ronny Rockel
It’s tough to find anything critical to say about this German with the superb combination of size, shape, and condition. Ronny looked awesome, plain and simple. He even has a quiet confidence now that I don’t recall seeing in years past.
#13 Dexter Jackson
The Blade brought his trademark razor-sharp conditioning, and also appeared to be just a little bigger and fuller than ever before. Though some had written him off, the former Mr. Olympia and three-time Arnold Classic champion served notice to us all that he is still capable of standing next to anybody in the world at their best. And after losing to Kai two weeks in a row this past March, it looks like he just may beat him at this show.
#14 Hide Yamagishi
Hide is another guy it’s tough to find fault with, though you could say he still needs more back thickness. He’s done an amazing job of bringing up his triceps this year despite competing in almost every contest held in the USA, and considering he suffered a leg injury just a couple months ago, the fact that he was here tonight and in top condition was a testimony to his warrior spirit.
#15 Kai Greene
Kai has the type of physique that when he’s spot on is jaw-dropping. But when he’s even just a little bit off as he was tonight, you just don’t get the same effect. Kai’s lower body was granite hard, but he did seem to have a slight film of water blurring his back. At the Arnold back in March, he was sharper and it was Phil Heath and Branch Warren who had to accept losing to him. Right now it’s looking like both of those guys are beating Kai.
#16 Johnnie Jackson
This hard-working Texan by way of New Jersey was inconsistent with his condition for quite some time, but this year he’s nailed it over and over again. If the Mr. Olympia was judged only from the waist up, Johnnie would easily be in the top six. But since his legs don’t quite match for whatever reason (I know there was an injury a couple years ago that affected his training), he can’t vie for those top spots here.
#17 Craig Richardson
Another native New Jersey guy, Craig brought his A-game here tonight and definitely deserved to be there. If he were a lot bigger with the same shape and condition, Craig would certainly be in the mix.
#18 Phil Heath
Phil basically brought the same incredible package here that he had back at the Arnold, where many felt he should have beaten Kai. Phil owns the rear double biceps and side triceps poses, and his crab most-muscular shot had the crowd going apeshit. I just rode in the elevator with a guy who was convinced Phil should and would win this Mr. Olympia. I don’t know about all that, but I have to give Heath his props.
#19 Bill Wilmore
Like Johnnie Jackson, Bill has world-class development in the chest and back. His arms and legs – not so much. But Bill gets an A for effort, as he clearly did his homework and showed up in peak condition.
#20 Toney Freeman
According to emcee Bob Cicherillo, Toney was the largest man in the contest at 6-2 and 300 pounds even. We’ve always said that the X-Man would look better at that weight than the 275-285 we’ve seen him at over the last few years. He surely was bigger and fuller, but Toney lacked that grainy hardness that he’s shown before. But for 300 pounds, the guy was pretty damn lean.
#21 Paco Bautista
I don’t know Paco and have absolutely nothing personal against the Spaniard, but yikes, what a weird physique. His waist is almost exactly as wide as his shoulders and upper back, and his torso seems way too long for his legs. Does he have a lot of muscle and does he get ripped? Yes. Is it pretty? No my friends, it is not. I know it’s the structure he was born with and he has no control over that, but it doesn’t change the fact that it seems very odd for him to share the same stage with physiques as aesthetically pleasing as men like Phil, Dexter, and Victor.
#22 Jay Cutler
Again, was it pure coincidence that we were all in suspense waiting for Jay as he was the last man to come out? I don’t know. Jay looked really good, but was it quite as good as last year? Not to my eyes. That ‘wow factor’ of crisp, dry conditioning wasn’t quite there. I may have been imagining things, but it even seemed to me that even Jay knew he wasn’t killing this show the way he did last year. If he wins, and I still do believe he will, it will largely be on the strength of his overall mass and width. His condition is damn good, don’t get me wrong, I just didn’t get the impression even from the crowd that he was slaughtering his competition and owning the stage the way he did exactly one year ago on the same stage.
We’ll see what happens tomorrow night. Obviously if any of the top men either sharpen up or fade, placings could shift around. These poor judges have a truly stressful and thankless task trying to sort these guys out fairly, and feelings are going to get hurt and fans will be upset no matter what they ultimately decide. For now, I will leave you with what is often a very reliable indication of what the judges are considering – the callouts.
Callouts
#1 Jay Cutler, Branch Warren, Phil Heath, Dexter Jackson,
#2 Dennis Wolf, Victor Martinez, Ronny Rockel, Kai Greene, Toney Freeman
#3 Dennis James, Marcus Haley, Johnnie Jackson, Hide Yamagishi
#4 Branch Warren, Phil Heath, Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, Ronny Rockel, Dennis Wolf
#5 Roelly Winklaar, Eugene Mishin, Troy Alves,’Ed Nunn, Craig Richardson, Bill Wilmore, Paco Bautista, Erik Frankhouser
#6 Rockel, Wolf, Victor, Kai, Toney, Hide
#7 Haley, Dennis James, Roelly, Johnnie
#8 Robert Pietrokowicz, Paco Bautista, Erik Fankhouser, Ed Nunn
#9 Branch, Dexter, Phil, Jay
