Record Mr. Olympia Prize Money & Roelly Winklaar wins 2013 Chicago Pro.

Over the years the prize money awarded at the annual Mr. Olympia contest has steadily increased. I recall back in 1971 when I filmed my first Mr. Olympia it was $1000, and it is now set at a record $950,000 for the 2013 event. This is a huge amount, especially when comparing it to the early Olympias. I would not be at all surprised to see Mr. O prize money hit the magic 1 million dollars next year!

Over the last 48 years of the Olympia there have only been 13 different Mr. Olympia winners. That is an incredibly low number and it's due to the dominance and resilience of the all-time greats. Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney are the record holders with eight victories each, followed by the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger with seven wins.

The 2013 Mr. Olympia contest is going to be one of the most competitive in the history of the sport. You will see reigning champ Phil Heath trying for a possible third win, with four-time winner Jay Cutler making his comeback and breathing down Phil's neck. There are also a number of other potential winners from Kai Greene, Branch Warren to Dexter Jackson with new guy Mamdouh "Big Ramy" Elssbiay also likely to make a big impact this year.

In the Ms Olympia we have Iris Kyle going for her all-time record breaking 9th Olympia title.

Last weekend at the 2013 IFBB Chicago Pro, two more men have now qualified for the Olympia. In the open division, Roelly Winklaar was the winner and is now qualified for the 2013 Mr. O.
Tricky Jackson won his class and has now also earned himself a Mr. Olympia Showdown qualifying spot by winning the 212-pound class.
See Results below:

2013 IFBB Chicago Pro
Chicago, Ill    July 6, 2013

Men's Open Bodybuilding:
1. Roelly Winklaar
2. Lionel Beyeke
3. Bill Wilmore
4. Essa Obaid
5. Justin Compton
6. Lee Banks
7. Stefan Havlik
8. Keith Williams
9. Constantinos Demetriou
10. Jeff Beckham

NP
Kenneth Jackson
Michael Liberatore
Manuel Lomeli
Alexandre Nataf
An Nguyen
Jojo Ntiforo
Benjamin Parra
Craig Richardson
Jonathan Rowe

212 Bodybuilding:
1.Tricky Jackson
2. Gaetano Cisternino
3. Charles Ray Arde
4. Bola Ojex
5. Derik Farnsworth
6. John Sherman
7. Angel Rangel Vargas
8. Bryan Pazdzierz
9. Peter Foucaux

NP
Thomas Benagli
Chris Darby
James Darling
Rod Ketchens
Luis Santiago
Shelby Starnes