by Christian Duque
Okay so before anybody corrects me on the name of the show, let me just be clear, I don’t believe that the name of the contest is the BS France show lol. But the reason that I picked this title is because Samson is one of the three greatest bodybuilders on the planet and for him to sign on to compete at this rather dopey show so close to the Olympia makes absolutely no sense. The crux of my article will come down to whether it was a mistake for Samson to have done this competition and secondarily what did he have to gain from throwing his name in the ring.
I have to say that at the end of the day we are dealing with somebody who could potentially be the best bodybuilder in the world but as a result of a poorly made decision may not only forfeit his opportunity to win an Olympia but may also fall out of the top three. I understand that right now everybody is talking about who they think is going to win and I have heard a great many people say that Samson has one of the best chances of pulling off the upset. This year’s champion only has one title to his name. His predecessor only has one title to his name. Big Ramy is not competing. Brandon Curry may or may not be competing.
In reality, though, we have a defending champion, and last year’s Top 3 could easily change, so it makes no sense to me why Samson would take this gamble on the French show. Not only that but by winning this competition he has effectively taken a qualification slot from another competitor who may have been able to secure their path to the 2025 Mr Olympia. Although it’s not going to be one of the main points of this article it is still a shitty thing for Samson to have done. Again I don’t know why he competed here, but we will also delve into some possibilities and some points raised by other media outlets. Good points on paper, but nothing that would justify him competing in my mind.
Okay so let’s call the show what it’s actually called. One bodybuilding outlet called it the Copyright Strike Classic because apparently the promoter felt the need to report the channel for using content to otherwise grow this particular show and the sport of bodybuilding. I think that’s a pretty crappy thing for a promoter to do but again that’s not the name of the show. The name of the show is the IFBB Pro League 2024 France Cup. So let’s at least call it by its name. I don’t necessarily have ann issue with the contest, as much as I do with Samson, potentially, sabotaging himself for the Olympia by competing in it.
Look folks there are not a lot of guys that can win the Mr Olympia. I mean we can talk about who we would like to see were it from a fan perspective. I mean that as much as it’s pretty open-ended. You could visit any number of message boards, Facebook groups, or Instagram pages and YouTube channels to see that for yourself. For example, I am a diehard of Martin Fitzwater and he happens to be a guy who could actually win the Olympia in a reasonable amount of time. But for example there are fans of other competitors, whose names I will not mention just because I don’t want to be a dick, but the reality of the matter is they don’t have a prayer of winning the Olympia. They can’t win it this year, next year or 10 years from now. And it’s nothing against them as people, they could be real salt of the earth individuals. They could have hearts of gold. They could work really hard in the gym and they could pose their hearts out on stage, but they may not have what a physique requires to be able to make it into the most elite levels of the sport. Perhaps they don’t have the proportions or the symmetry, perhaps they can’t nail their condition, unfortunately not every person has the God-given genetics and work ethic to win the top title.
We can always say anything is possible as a way to create inspiration and motivation but at the end of the day we also need to grasp reality. Samson is a guy that can win the Olympia. Samson is a guy that has won the second biggest title in the sport and he is a guy that has retained a spot in the prestigious top three. So why in the hell would he risk it all to compete at a crap contest like the France whatever is beyond me.
One popular bodybuilding outlet made the point to me that he was doing it as a test run with his coach. That would make sense but for the fact that the Olympia is only a few weeks away. That would have been something to have been done maybe three or four months out, but even then it still would have been too risky. You could do a mock prep which would have been fine, but to actually do a prep for a show requires a great deal of exertion on the body. Again we are talking about taking heavy protocols, depleting, and still training and posing during caloric manipulations. These are not things that should be experimented with in close proximity to either the Olympia or the Arnold Classic. To do such a thing in my opinion is extremely irresponsible.
Samson is not just doing this for fun. He has sponsors, he has a legacy, he has a place in the sport. Why would he jeopardize all of this simply to see if he and a coach work? Like I said it’s not a bad point to raise, but it’s just not something I can hang my hat on. It seems incredibly reckless to me and even though he won, which I never doubted that he would. What impact will this have on his preparations for the Olympia?
I just can’t wrap my head around it. This is the kind of blunder that a new athlete would make. Maybe somebody with a freshly minted pro card or maybe somebody competing at the Olympia for the very first time. I just cannot understand why a top three Olympian who could potentially win and more than potentially, who may likely win, would throw this monkey wrench into the equation. It makes absolutely no sense. And even if he peeked at 80% he still had to peak in order to look good on stage. There are even people saying that he may have made improvements. And that’s a fantastic thing but why showcase those improvements at a competition in close proximity to the biggest show in bodybuilding? Again I do not understand the rationale. I don’t think that this was a common sense-based decision, either.
Samson had everything he needed to go into the Olympia. He took second in Columbus, he was poised to break into the top three once again, and if that had happened he would have qualified for the 2025 Olympia. There was no reason to do the French show and the more I think about it the more concerned I am with what impact it’s going to have on its preparations for the Olympia.
Now let’s all talk about the mistake in terms of what he had to gain. Does winning this title in France give him any clout? Does it somehow give him buzz going into the Olympia? It really doesn’t. And that is why this second point won’t even take but a few lines of this article because there really is no argument to make. He did not compete against anyone in the Olympia top three. Moreover, he did not compete against anyone in the Olympia top six. Lastly, I don’t even think he competed against anyone that even placed in the Olympia top 10. What he basically did was he competed in a show with second and third rate guys and walked away with a victory. Could you imagine what would have happened if he took second or third?
Not only would all of the issues with the first point had been in play but he would have substantially hindered his ability to go in with any kind of buzz to the Olympia because he would have been seen as a guy who couldn’t even beat third call out guys. So again what was the benefit of doing this show?
I just can’t wrap my head around it. Maybe you, the reader, can take something away from this last minute decision. But to me it seems like something that was done hastily and probably not well thought out. So he won this show and he’s looking pretty damn good but is his body going to have any kind of recuperation.? I mean even if he went into this at 80%, is he supposed to now go from there to 100% at the Olympia? I just cannot understand why. And I know that I’ve been repeating this very point over and over throughout this article but if you take anything away from this piece it’s that I haven’t the faintest idea why Samson would do this at this late stage in the game. I don’t know that any other guy in his position would do it either. And I don’t know that anyone in the future would either. If he falls out of the top three it will be as a direct result, in my opinion, of having done this show in France.
As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my article, here, at Iron Magazine. I hope that you will share your feedback in the comments as well as share this article on all of your social media feeds. This is without a doubt one of the most bizarre moves made by a top Olympian going into the Mr Olympia that I can think of in all my years covering the sport. I am still at a loss for words for why he did it and I still don’t think that he gained anything from it. The only thing that could come from this is misfortune.
