1976 was an important year for professional bodybuilding as it was for the first time subjected, on a mass scale, to movie audiences through the hit Pumping Iron.
One of the more popular characters on this movie, which profiled the 1975 Pretoria, South Africa Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe competitions, was the smart, likeable and very powerfully built Franco Columbu.An ex-European weightlifting and boxing champion, Franco had moved to California in the early '70s to train with his close friend (who he had competed against as an amateur bodybuilder in Europe), Arnold Schwarzenegger. After Sergio's retirement from the IFBB, he soon became Arnold's closest competition demonstrating an equally muscular, albeit shorter and more compact physique.1976 Mr. Olympia, Franco Columbu.Held in Columbus, Ohio, the '76 Mr. Olympia, promoted by Arnold and business partner Jim Lorimer, showcased an amazing line-up of under-200 pound bodybuilders including Frank Zane, Ed Corney, Bill Grant and Boyer Coe, with newly crowned Mr. Universe champions Ken Waller and Mike Katz being the sole over-200 pound entrants.Having tried to win the Olympia for five years, Franco Columbu, ripped and stacked with muscle, with back development reminiscent of Sergio Oliva in its density, and without Arnold to contend with, proved the best man onstage and won his first Olympia title.Frank Zane, visibly shaken by his narrow defeat (the decision was an extremely close one), vowed to come back better than ever in 1977, while Franco announced his retirement and exited with the title he had spent the early '70s working toward.Almost 30 years later Franco fondly remembered his time as Mr. Olympia, acknowledged the importance of winning such a prestigious title and explained how hard such a feat was for him. "What makes the Mr. Olympia - the contest and the winner - so great is how the event forces physique standards to improve year by year," said Franco in the mid-'90s."In 1975, when I went against Arnold for the overall, it was very close - it could have gone either way. As we were standing onstage, Arnold said to me, 'this is it (his last Olympia). It's getting too dangerous out here. I'm improving, but everybody else is too.'"The moment of winning my first Olympia was so incredible [after competing in it for so many years] that I jumped up in the air. Then I had to take a big deep breath to think about what I had done. What I had done was get to the top, top, top, top, top!"As with many great champions after having reached the pinnacle of achievement before retiring (think Ali, for example), Franco too was susceptible to making an ill advised comeback. As the '80s began, Franco, ultra competitive being that he is, decided he would again throw on the trunks one last time. But would he sink or swim?
0 comments:
Post a Comment