With 11 Olympia appearances to his name, Samir Bannout surely is one of the more prolific professional competitors of all time.Known for his erratic contest conditioning and his battling of the water demons (the water retention that has plagued his competitive career), Samir brought it all together in Munich, Germany in 1983 to win bodybuilding's biggest prize.In what would be Frank Zane's final competitive year, Samir had not had only the three-time champ to deal with but also emerging threats Mohamed El Makkaway (who would place second) and Lee Haney.
Samir, with his pleasing and symmetrical body, would signal for many years to come an end to aesthetics over size in an Olympia champion, while Lee Haney (who placed third) would, the following year continue this theme by marking the rise, and eventual acceptance among the judges, of the more massive physique taking precedence over the smaller look however symmetrical and proportioned that package might be.To be awarded the Mr. Olympia title is something Samir never took lightly and here he explains exactly what its achievement meant to him: "The Olympia title is the ultimate. Nothing tops the ultimate. Being Mr. Olympia means you cannot go any higher. By winning the Olympia, you become the king of bodybuilding... in '83 I truly felt like the king.""I was ready for the war. 'The night before the show, Joe [Weider] asked me to go up to his room, so he could check me out. I started posing, and I looked at Joe and Betty's (Joe's wife's) faces, and they were like, Wow! Holy cow! What did this guy do? Joe became excited and said, 'Oh, my God, let me get a photographer up here. I need a cover.'""While Joe was on the phone, Betty said to me, 'Samir, Arnold Schwarzenegger and you are the most impressive bodybuilders I have ever seen.
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