by Christian Duque
So I don’t know if bodybuilding fans have their listening years on or not. But let’s go ahead and hope that they do. Samson, to you I say congratulations. It’s not your fault where you placed and I’m sure you’re elated to have won the Mr Olympia. That being said, let me also send a little shoutout to Derek Lunsford, even though I never thought you should have gotten the Olympia by special invitation, you made improvements and fought hard. You are Mr. Olympia, and you are a good sport on stage. So to you, Derek I also sent a little shoutout. Now that that’s been said, let’s talk about Hadi. Let’s talk about the guy that got royally screwed by the judges, and ultimately by the powers that be, in my humble opinion.
Hadi was not going to win back the Olympia. I said it here, I said at StrengthAddicts.com, I’ve said it everywhere that I have been able to – including on podcasts I have been featured on. He was not going to become the second man in 60 years to reclaim the title. It’’s a mystery to me why Jay was able to do it but that’s only because I don’t know enough about the backstory. When Jay won it back I was not glued into the nerve center of the Federation nor did I have the insights that I do today. So maybe there was more to it. There was probably more to it. The fans are always the last to know about politics. And one man winning it back in 60 years is not some fluke or some coincidence. Even to my critics I say, how can you say it’s not political?
Now Hadi didn’t grow the sport – I have always said that. He never went to Pittsburgh to the President’s show, either. He didn’t do the expo circuit, he didn’t guest pose, he only did limited interviews and he never learned to speak English like Big Ramy did. Look at the good it did Big Ramy though.. That guy is all but forgotten. That’s why he doesn’t even bother doing the Olympia. He’s blacklisted essentially, no different than Kai was. No matter what he brings to the stage, he’s never going to win the Sandow back. So he doesn’t even bother doing it. At some point Brandon will get the memo also. Or he can keep competing until he retires like Dexter did. Once you lose the title – you don’t win it back. that’s it. I think Hadi is learning this the hard way. I think 2nd in 2024 stung a lot more than it did in 2023.
It really stung because Hadi naively (or otherwise) believed in the bullshit. He believed that if you actually improve – even from a physique that didn’t need improving because I don’t believe he lost the Olympia last year – that victory was attainable. It’s not.
Hadi believed the bullshit that if he brought a better physique that he’d be Mr. O again.. So that’s what he did. He brought a better physique to the Arnold Classic in Columbus and so much so that many of the talking heads that it was his best physique of all time.
Now I’m not going to tell you that he beat that physique just a couple of days ago in Las Vegas, I’m not going to tell you that it was the same physique as it was in Columbus, either. But I am going to tell you that the physique we saw at the 2024 Olympia was superior to the physique that we saw in the 2023 event. Therefore he made vast improvements and was still screwed. Only this time because he made such marked improvements I don’t believe that they were going to put Derek ahead of him again. To have done that would have been too blatant, it would have been too obvious. So what did they do? They put Hadi second to a guy that had never beaten him before and who, arguably, didn’t look better than Derek ahead of him. This little misdirect was enough to quell any talk of politics, but also to make sure that Hadi was not Mr. O again.
It’s frustrating to me because I am someone that believes in incentive. I believe in hard work. I know what it feels like to fail and I know what it feels like to succeed. I have more respect for those who have failed and succeeded than those that succeeded out of the gate. But, either way, if you put the work in I respect you. I do not respect you when things are given to you.
Hadi is a guy who lost the title and who did everything in his power to improve his physique to win it back. He even did the Arnold Classic just to set the record straight that he was actively working on all of the things that he needed to work on. And what reward did he get? They gave the win to a guy that honestly had a lot of flaws and who in all reality couldn’t hold a candle to Hadi. So why did they do that? They did it to send a message. I think Hadi and Derek are done. Neither one of them is going to ever win the title again.
And I understand that Derek is very young, and like Bob said, he can still grow. But it won’t matter – that’s just empty hope. Once you lose the title, you never get it back. And the fact that you lose the title in my opinion also has to do with politics. Because we’ve seen a battered Dorian Yates keep the title in 1997, but we saw a still-impressive Ronnie Coleman lose it in 2006. In any event, once you lose it – you lose it. And no amount of hard work, no amount of quality meals, quality training, quality posing, is going to make any kind of a difference. You will never win it back. Because by losing it, the message was sent. Now the question is how long is it going to take for these guys to process it.
I’m sorry to be so pessimistic, but this is bodybuilding. This is not football, basketball, football or hockey. This is bodybuilding. This is a niche sport run by a group who answers to no one and judges and officials that are lackeys – one and all.They do what they’re told and they don’t ask many questions. So here I am sounding like the journalistic version of Lee Priest telling you I wasn’t the least bit surprised. I’m telling you, I told you so. I’m telling you politics is King in bodybuilding.
And listen folks, I don’t know if politics only means that if you piss someone off you’re out. These guys may not have pissed anyone off. They may not have done anything controversial. It just may be a question of changing tastes, maybe they can do more with Samson’s look. Maybe they want to change gears. Maybe they don’t want little guys winning open bodybuilding titles anymore. This could also be nothing more than a changing of the direction of the Mr Olympia. Maybe they are done with competitors in the 212 height range. Maybe this is a way to bolster the 212 again or maybe it’s simply the fact they want freaks that are tall enough to get on the amusement park rides.
The reality of the matter is the future may be Samson and Andrew, but if that’s the case why did they put Martin forth? Martin is not going to be winning any height contests anytime soon, but he was extremely deserving of that fourth place spot. Moreover, I would make a case that Martin could have been in the Top 3. He looked absolutely phenomenal and is a future Mr Olympia. He’s not going to be a tall Mr Olympia but he’s going to be a Mr Olympia that brings in tremendous symmetry, separation, and quality size. Again, bodybuilding is not a height contest but maybe to the powers that be that’s exactly what it is, right now.
I’m going to tell you now, more than ever, that I believe this is a political sport. I’m going to stop short of calling it a rigged sport but it is most definitely a sport that is influenced directly and/or indirectly by politics. And I don’t believe the judges have the final word. I don’t even think they have near the final word. I think they are proxies more than anything else. They take the hits for the bad decisions they’re told to make. That’s my what my gut instincts tell me.
In any event whatever may have influenced the judges to do up the score cards the way that they did, Samson is your new Mr Olympia. Hadigot screwed and Derek – well Derek is lucky that he got third. I am very happy for Martin getting 4th, but I’m also a little curious about Andrew. There are people that say Andrew got screwed. And I don’t know that I necessarily disagree with them. I could have seen both Martin and Andrew in a Top 3 that did not include Derek or Samson, but had Hadi winning.
As always I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media platforms. I guarantee you it will generate some pretty lively conversations. You never know, you may end up unfriending people and blocking them as well, because people are going to lose their shit when they read this article.
