“BIG IRON” AND “LITTLE IRON” Men of Muscle #5 – The Unseen Mr. Olympia 2001 – “The missing footage”. This video in our yearly series was released today as GMV-486. I was able to obtain all the fantastic footage which was not used in the 2001 Mr. Olympia Evening Show video. It contained some rare gems that were just too special to leave on the cutting room floor. My special thanks to Andy Olson of Magna Media International for making this arrangement with GMV. Due to the time constraints of a 90-minute video master tape and so many competitors, not a second of this tape was able to be included in the Mr. Olympia video (click here). The 9 posing routines consist of the balance of 8 of the routines including the incredible finale to KING KAMALI’S routine, which brought the house down. The 9th one is the COMPLETE posing routine of England’s J.D. DAWODU, known as “The Freak” because of his “freaky” peaked biceps and perfectly balanced triceps. The finale is the sensational pose down including some of the sortie into the audience. It almost lets you experience the atmosphere of the event as if you were there. To conclude we have Ronnie’s emotional victory speech to the audience and then an even more personal on stage interview where Ronnie lays his soul bare, surrounded by Joe Weider, friends and family. For all Ronnie’s fans, this is a very special moment to complete a most intimate tape on his narrow victory over Jay Cutler. It has been a huge pleasure to me to be able to produce this tape and preserve all the wonderful material for all fans of Mr Olympia action. Full details on this video are shown on our link above. I hope there will again be too much wonderful material to fit into the 2002 Mr. Olympia video! **************************************************** The GMV web site was 4 years old a couple of weeks ago. Time flies, as it only seems like yesterday that we got our first and very basic site started with the help of one of our customers. In the near future we will have some exciting surprises in store for you, so stay tuned! A record 8 new tapes were listed on our site one day last week. ******************************************************** Last month I briefly touched on the 1971 Mr. Olympia in Paris. Last week a new customer asked me why my 1980 Mr. Olympia video V-103 is not like the 2001 Mr. Olympia video in composition and style. I wrote him an explanation, which is now contained in our FAQs and at the bottom of our V-103 video description. Being the controversial last contest for both Arnold and Mike Mentzer, please check out my story on the making of that historic video. It is now one of our all time best selling videos. As far as I know it was the first ever 1-hour video of a Mr. Olympia contest. *********************************************************** Finally “Little Iron”. After writing about the “Big Iron” of the Mr. Olympians, it would be a gross under statement to think of my following 2002 WFF Universe Report as “Little Iron”. The WFF event with 300 competitors could truly be described as huge and sensational in every way. I have never shot a bigger event for number of competitors and it was an interesting challenge with the contest running for 12 hours without a break from 3.30 PM. Held in the famous German University City of Goettingen, it attracted competitors from around the world. A very special highlight for me was the first ever-Australian victories in 2 of the Fitness classes of the WFF. I refer to Monica Wright of Melbourne who won the Women’s Aerobic Fitness Class in a very hot field. She then doubled up to win the Pairs Fitness Class with her partner Matt Thom. They performed a truly sensational routine with elements of martial arts, gymnastics, aerobics and a dash of bodybuilding. With so many competitors we split the contest into 5 separate videos, being 3 for men and 2 for women. Everything in the contest is included in our tapes as the event was run non-stop, 3 rounds per class and then straight on to the next class. All overall pose downs and class awards are held at the end of the event. Here are some very brief comments on those competitors who stood out for me, with a complete list of winners in our RESULTS SECTION. Here is a list of the individual titles (with links): GMV-480 WFF Universe: The Men's Tape # 1 GMV-481 WFF Universe: The Men's Tape # 2 GMV-482 WFF Universe: The Men's Tape # 3 GMV-483 WFF Universe: The Women's Tape # 1 GMV-484 WFF Universe: The Women's Tape # 2 The event commences with junior guys split into 4 different classes. This gives a wonderful introduction to bodybuilding for the future life-blood of the sport. Most impressive was Nikolas Rautenstrauch of Germany, winner of the Superbody Class. You don’t have to be a Coleman or Cutler type physique in the WFF. It caters more to the Ahmad Haidar type physique. This perfectly describes the type of look achieved in the Superbody Class by most competitors. In the Men’s Fitness classes, Jürgen Guem of Austria was a worthy overall winner with a routine and body to match. In the Men’s Performance Class, there was a titanic battle between previous overall winner Patrick Heisel of Germany and Vassili Delis of Greece. Both were in the over 30 class and in a very close decision the judges gave the nod to Delis of Greece. I personally preferred the more defined physique of Heisel. In the Men’s Athletic class Alain Coniglio of France looked like a nightclub physique act performer with his long hair and Latin good looks. Although he won his class, the overall title in this section went to a tall, ripped and mature Aliaksandr Kazlov of Belarus. The Extreme Body class went to Werner Höh of Germany and this guy was huge, symmetrical and cut. There was also a wheelchair class, a Masters over 50 Class and a sensational Willi Bendel winning the Masters over 60 section. Finally the Men’s Superbody Class. Artiom Ovsojan of Russia took the first section with a very mature physique for a guy in his early 20’s. He is a future overall winner in my opinion as he has a complete package. His photo can be seen all over the internet. But it was to be Italy’s day. Antonio Vergiani won the over 40 section with Massimo Monaco winning the over 30 and overall titles. Monaco has the classic Italian look of long graceful lines, size, definition and a winning posing routine. Sort of a modern day Francis Benfatto. In the PAIRS, Monica Wright and Matt Thom were close but deserving winners of the Pairs Fitness class with their innovative and sensational routine. Sandrine Sacoman and Alain Coniglio of France posed their way to victory in the Pairs Athletic division with a most sensual routine. In the other classes for Women, the beautiful Christina Gogou of Greece had the body and superb routine to take her class but not the overall title, which went to Dunja Beil of Germany. In the Women’s Performance class the immaculate condition and proportions of Susan Malekpur of Germany took this section and then convincingly won the overall title. I would like to see Susan try her luck in the Figure Class at the NABBA Universe in October as she has the ability, muscle size and shape to broaden her contest outlook in the future. The Women’s Athletic Division provided one more overall title for the bulging trophy cabinet of Sylvie Esmenjaud of France. This phenomenal champion has been winning international titles in both Figure Classes as well as various WFF Classes over the last 12 years. She always presents herself in fantastic condition with attention to every little detail. Sylvie is a super-star of the sport, although it would be lovely to see her develop a new routine. 2nd placed Romina Paoli of Austria also showed outstanding potential. She is a future class winner. Women’s Superbody lived up to its name with a huge entry of fantastic physiques. The statuesque Russian Irina Zinchenko took her class and then beat over 30 winner and former overall winner Lucie Walther of Germany for this year’s overall crown. Irena has a classic feminine physique in the style of Valentina Chepiga. Finally in Women’s Extreme Body, Alvia Solomentseva was in a class of her own. She was of similar standard to a typical winner of the Nationals in USA. With size and feminine lines she has a wonderful future ahead of her. |
