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THE 2003 OLYMPIA WEEKEND

Monday, October 27 2003 [ 7:34:27 PM ]
As I knew it would, my trip to Las Vegas for the Olympia weekend went by in a flash. We got in at 11 PM (which was 2 AM our time) and found a message on my cel phone to go to a party being held by writer Laura Moore, but I was exhausted and knew Janet and I needed to rest up for the whirlwind of events over the next three days. We got to the Mandalay Bay, ate at the only restaurant still open, and crashed. Janet had been up for twenty four hours already. Friday was our big expo day. (Note: I will have a Photo Gallery of all the pics I took this past weekend coming soon) The really cool thing was all the attention Janet received. A video crew from a company called GMV filmed her, and a couple dozen guys asked to take her picture. Of course, whenever I was off a few feet away talking to someone, some guy would always come up and start talking to her. I had a lot of people come up and tell me they enjoyed my articles or the web site too, but J-Lo definitely was the star. A lot of people were asking her what booth she was working at. I am so glad I stayed in shape, because I wore a tank top both days and didn't even feel self-conscious among the best-built men in the world walking around me. Friday night a lot of people were going out, but I knew I could only handle one night without any sleep, and that had to be Saturday. I had a ticket to the Ms, Fitness, and Figure Olympias, but since Janet couldn't go with me I wasn't about to go. We went to dinner with Rob Fleischman, who hosted us, Rich Gaspari, and his girlfriend. Rob had invited us to the Luxor Steakhouse, a very classy restaurant that you needed reservations at least a few days ahead of time to get into. It was such a surreal experience sitting across from Rich, who I had idolized in my early days in the sport. I used to have about twenty pictures of him taped to my bedroom wall when I was 19 and 20. I would stare at them and dream about having that type of dense, rugged muscularity and vascularity. Not that I ever quite looked like the Dragonslayer, but the inspiration he provided fueled many intense workouts. As for Rob, I learned that he is primarily an inventor of new technologies. I won't get into too much detail because he is a humble guy, but let's just say that if you have a phone with text messaging or that takes pictures, you have Rob to thank! That just blew my mind. We walked around the strip for a while and checked out the shops in Paris, then headed in. The next day, night, and day after that would turn out to be one long non-stop run. After dining at the Mandalay's buffet for breakfast, where you are always bound to see many of your fellow Olympia fans and bodybuilders, it was off to the expo for just an hour or so before I had to go the Olympia prejudging. The expo is a great place to bump into all my old friends and acquaintances in the sport and catch up with what they have been doing. I was amazed that a lot of them still assumed I live in California, when I have been back in Boston for three years exactly this week. Janet got a spare prejudging ticket from Sam Stevenson (subject of a previous Pump), whose wife went to the room with their new baby, and sat with Sam and Valerie and Tim Peters. I was down in the press section with Dr. Carlon Colker from MD on my left, Flex Wheeler on my right, and John Romano to his right. Flex was doing the contest coverage for MD and had a minidisk recorder to get all his commentary. As soon as Ronnie stepped out, the show was essentially over. Ronnie was 287 pounds with not a trace of fat or water on him. This was up forty pounds from last year when he was depleted, and still up an additional thirty pounds from his top Olympia weight. Keep in mind that Ronnie is 39 years old and has been training since he was thirteen! I call that the transformation of the decade. Jay Cutler looked very good but couldn't touch Ronnie. Dexter Jackson was at his all-time best, looking bigger and more ripped than usual. He came in third, but the consensus of the MD four was that he could easily have been second. The only two disappointments were Kevin Levrone, who looked like he hadn't trained legs at all in the past year, and Lee Priest, who looked like he had started his diet much too late. Lee's lower body was totally smooth, more so from the back. Other guys had striated glutes, his jiggled. I had a hamburger after judging and was going to join Janet at the pool, but first I had to go back to the expo to shoot with a photographer from Muscle and Fitness who was shooting cool tattoos. The guy that was there before me had about fifty tattoos, so I was waiting around a while. Finally I made it to the pool for a little while before the sun went down. I went to the night show while Janet took a nap before going out to the after-parties. The highlight of the night show was Arnold coming out and talking for a while before helping Joe Weider give out the Olympia medals to the men. Arnold was so relaxed and at ease compared to how he has been on the campaign trail. His old friend Franco Columbu was there and they were joking around. After the contest, MD owner Steve Blechman took a few of us out to Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse. By the time I got back to the room to wake up Janet it was past midnight. She got ready and slipped into the new outfit. We headed down to House of Blues for the after-party. I can't write much about the after-parties because MD paid my way to Vegas to do that for their magazine, so it's my obligation to keep it exclusive. We had a good time, that's for sure. I slept for about thirty minutes before I had to go to the Olympia winner's seminar, which I also covered. It was great to be able to ask the champs questions the morning after their big wins. Janet slept through that, too! We hung out at the pool for a while. I talked to Dave Palumbo and Colette Nelson, who will be doing the Nationals in less than three weeks. After that I went back to my room and at last slept for a few hours before it was time to eat, pack, and leave Las Vegas. The Olympia top six were: 1. Ronnie Coleman 2. Jay Cutler 3. Dexter Jackson 4. Dennis James 5. Gunter Schlierkamp 6. Kevin Levrone And that's all for now. I trained back yesterday and had a great workout despite being pretty tired. I am now caught up on my sleep and ready to get back to work here at home and in the gym.
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Monday, October 27 2003 [ 7:34:27 PM ]

As I knew it would, my trip to Las Vegas for the Olympia weekend went by in a flash. We got in at 11 PM (which was 2 AM our time) and found a message on my cel phone to go to a party being held by writer Laura Moore, but I was exhausted and knew Janet and I needed to rest up for the whirlwind of events over the next three days. We got to the Mandalay Bay, ate at the only restaurant still open, and crashed. Janet had been up for twenty four hours already.

Friday was our big expo day. (Note: I will have a Photo Gallery of all the pics I took this past weekend coming soon) The really cool thing was all the attention Janet received. A video crew from a company called GMV filmed her, and a couple dozen guys asked to take her picture. Of course, whenever I was off a few feet away talking to someone, some guy would always come up and start talking to her. I had a lot of people come up and tell me they enjoyed my articles or the web site too, but J-Lo definitely was the star. A lot of people were asking her what booth she was working at. I am so glad I stayed in shape, because I wore a tank top both days and didn't even feel self-conscious among the best-built men in the world walking around me.

Friday night a lot of people were going out, but I knew I could only handle one night without any sleep, and that had to be Saturday. I had a ticket to the Ms, Fitness, and Figure Olympias, but since Janet couldn't go with me I wasn't about to go. We went to dinner with Rob Fleischman, who hosted us, Rich Gaspari, and his girlfriend. Rob had invited us to the Luxor Steakhouse, a very classy restaurant that you needed reservations at least a few days ahead of time to get into. It was such a surreal experience sitting across from Rich, who I had idolized in my early days in the sport. I used to have about twenty pictures of him taped to my bedroom wall when I was 19 and 20. I would stare at them and dream about having that type of dense, rugged muscularity and vascularity. Not that I ever quite looked like the Dragonslayer, but the inspiration he provided fueled many intense workouts. As for Rob, I learned that he is primarily an inventor of new technologies. I won't get into too much detail because he is a humble guy, but let's just say that if you have a phone with text messaging or that takes pictures, you have Rob to thank! That just blew my mind.

We walked around the strip for a while and checked out the shops in Paris, then headed in. The next day, night, and day after that would turn out to be one long non-stop run.

After dining at the Mandalay's buffet for breakfast, where you are always bound to see many of your fellow Olympia fans and bodybuilders, it was off to the expo for just an hour or so before I had to go the Olympia prejudging. The expo is a great place to bump into all my old friends and acquaintances in the sport and catch up with what they have been doing. I was amazed that a lot of them still assumed I live in California, when I have been back in Boston for three years exactly this week.

Janet got a spare prejudging ticket from Sam Stevenson (subject of a previous Pump), whose wife went to the room with their new baby, and sat with Sam and Valerie and The outfit that caused a commotion Tim Peters. I was down in the press section with Dr. Carlon Colker from MD on my left, Flex Wheeler on my right, and John Romano to his right. Flex was doing the contest coverage for MD and had a minidisk recorder to get all his commentary. As soon as Ronnie stepped out, the show was essentially over. Ronnie was 287 pounds with not a trace of fat or water on him. This was up forty pounds from last year when he was depleted, and still up an additional thirty pounds from his top Olympia weight. Keep in mind that Ronnie is 39 years old and has been training since he was thirteen! I call that the transformation of the decade. Jay Cutler looked very good but couldn't touch Ronnie. Dexter Jackson was at his all-time best, looking bigger and more ripped than usual. He came in third, but the consensus of the MD four was that he could easily have been second. The only two disappointments were Kevin Levrone, who looked like he hadn't trained legs at all in the past year, and Lee Priest, who looked like he had started his diet much too late. Lee's lower body was totally smooth, more so from the back. Other guys had striated glutes, his jiggled.

I had a hamburger after judging and was going to join Janet at the pool, but first I had to go back to the expo to shoot with a photographer from Muscle and Fitness who was shooting cool tattoos. The guy that was there before me had about fifty tattoos, so I was waiting around a while. Finally I made it to the pool for a little while before the sun went down.

I went to the night show while Janet took a nap before going out to the after-parties. The highlight of the night show was Arnold coming out and talking for a while before helping Joe Weider give out the Olympia medals to the men. Arnold was so relaxed and at ease compared to how he has been on the campaign trail. His old friend Franco Columbu was there and they were joking around.

After the contest, MD owner Steve Blechman took a few of us out to Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse. By the time I got back to the room to wake up Janet it was past midnight. She got ready and slipped into the new outfit. We headed down to House of Blues for the after-party. I can't write much about the after-parties because MD paid my way to Vegas to do that for their magazine, so it's my obligation to keep it exclusive. We had a good time, that's for sure. I slept for about thirty minutes before I had to go to the Olympia winner's seminar, which I also covered. It was great to be able to ask the champs questions the morning after their big wins. Janet slept through that, too!

We hung out at the pool for a while. I talked to Dave Palumbo and Colette Nelson, who will be doing the Nationals in less than three weeks. After that I went back to my room and at last slept for a few hours before it was time to eat, pack, and leave Las Vegas.

The Olympia top six were:

1. Ronnie Coleman
2. Jay Cutler
3. Dexter Jackson
4. Dennis James
5. Gunter Schlierkamp
6. Kevin Levrone

And that's all for now. I trained back yesterday and had a great workout despite being pretty tired. I am now caught up on my sleep and ready to get back to work here at home and in the gym.

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