Arnold Schwarzenegger vs. Mike Mentzer: The controversy of Mr. Olympia 1980

Arnold Schwarzenegger is often considered the best bodybuilder the sport has ever witnessed. Despite winning a total of seven Olympia titles throughout his illustrious career, Schwarzenegger is still accused by countless fans of robbing Mike Mentzer of the title back in 1980.

Mr Olympia, which is considered the biggest stage in competitive bodybuilding, has seen many controversies unfold throughout the years. However, one of the biggest ones out of this is surely the 1980’s.

After successfully establishing his career in Hollywood as an action movie star, Schwarzenegger moved on from competing to other bigger things. He started promoting the Mr Olympia event along with his friend and mentor Joe Weider. It was his very own proposal that resulted in the formation of two different weight categories in the sport of bodybuilding.

According to bodybuilding sensation Frank Zane who was a six-time Mr Olympia champ himself, Schwarzenegger had confirmed that he won’t be participating as he will be shooting a “color documentary for ABC.”

However, the entire lineup of bodybuilders as well as the fans were left shocked when Arnold Schwarzenegger made a sudden announcement of participation at the last moment. Schwarzenegger further also insisted on following the older weight class format. Upon hearing this, bodybuilding icon Boyer Coe was left furious. During a heated debate between Boyer, Arnold, and Mike Mentzer, ‘The Austrian Oak’ asked Coe to “grow up.”

In an interview from 1993, Mike Mentzer narrated his side of the story and recalled:

“On impulse, I ran over towards him. I was surprised. Arnold Schwarzenegger sat down! I scared him! He went over and sat in the corner.”

“And as I… when he went to sit down, I continued at him. I was wagging my finger at him, telling him that his behavior was reprehensible; that was not Boyer Coe who needed to grow up but him. And he couldn’t look me in the eye. He went from being a frantic, hysterical adolescent, to shrinking away like an injured child,” Mentzer continued.

What infuriated the athletes as well as the fans even more was the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger was announced the winner for the seventh time despite being out of shape. Confirming the same, bodybuilding icons Frank Zane and Samir Bannout, who were also competing at the event later gave their honest verdicts.

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Eyewitnesses drop verdict on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s condition

While the fans did cheer for Arnold Schwarzenegger when he came out all of a sudden to pose, they didn’t seem too happy when he was announced the winner. Mike Mentzer coming fifth, and Frank Zane being awarded the third position didn’t seem fair to the audience.

A while back, during an interview with EssentiallySports, Zane shared:

“He wasn’t in his best shape, I’d seen him better than that…you might say both of us weren’t at our very, very best.”

Similarly, Samir Bannout also revealed:

“Arnold really didn’t deserve to win…people don’t know about this…Arnold wasn’t really Arnold. He didn’t peak properly, and part of that was the cortisone shot that he ended up taking in his shoulder. That affected his chemistry somewhat. It made him retain water more than usual.”

As a result of this, Mike Mentzer decided to take retirement post 1980’s Mr Olympia. Despite still training after his retirement, Mentzer had lost all faith in the federation.

Mr Olympia 1980 remains to be the biggest controversial bout in the history of the sport. What are your views on this? Let us know in the comments.