The Aussie coup in San Francisco!! What a good double it was with Lee Priest winning his first ever Pro Grand Prix with GMV, an Australian Production company also present to record their first San Francisco Grand Prix. We taped everything from the Athlete's meeting, complete prejudging, brief pump room, NPC women's Figure Contest (to be a separate video), Expo scenes, the complete evening show with 2 cameras, to the final awards and our interview with Lee. The Grand Prix video is being edited at this moment and will include the complete posing routines of all 18 competitors and all key comparisons from rounds 1 and 2 of the prejudging. The video should be ready and listed on our site early next week, complete with some of Tina's superb photos. Lee was in superb, freaky condition and got better as the day progressed. Part of the music for his posing routine included the theme from Superman! That was quite apt I thought!! Lee's arms are from another galaxy. He was behind his main rival Chris Cormier after the first 2 rounds. But I felt that Lee clearly won the 2 evening rounds, as did the judges, and this gave Lee a well-deserved victory. When you consider that only the week before, Chris Cormier was runner-up to Jay Cutler in the Arnold Classic, this was a victory by Lee of considerable merit. Chris Cormier is a multi-GP winner and is in my opinion one of the top 3 pros in the world in recent years. Let's see where Lee can place in this year's Olympia now that he had gained the added respect of being a GP winner. He told me his goal was to place as high as possible in the top 6. Placing 7th in 1999 was his previous best at the Mr. O. Chris Cormier was certainly not off and had the best legs (cuts) and back. But when Lee hit the Sergio arms over head and crucifix poses, it overpowered the best shots from Chris. Lee also had a better "6-pack". Third placed Dexter Jackson was his usual superb, ripped and symmetrical self. He lacked the fire power of the Priest arms or the Cormier package and had to settle for a very good 3rd place. New guy Ahmad Haidar from Lebanon placed 4th with a physique that was cut to shreds and had probably the best abs in the show. He is like a modern day Frank Zane, and is quickly making his mark after making a great impression at the Arnold Classic. Rounding out the top 5 was another new guy in 300lb 6'5" tall Quincy "Titanic" Taylor. Quincy has good proportions and symmetry for his height and in time could seriously challenge for the Mr. O crown. Just outside the top 5 were Tommi Thorvildsen of Norway (now based in Belgium), and England's "Mr. Amazing Arms" Ernie Taylor. I was a bit surprised at Ernie's placing as he was in fantastic condition and recently qualified for the 2002 Olympia. But I suspect the judges may not have been happy with the composition of Ernie's triceps, and marked him down. Tommi's glutes were super-striated - he's another "massive marvel", and I was pleased to hear that he qualified for the 2002 Olympia at the Austrian Grand Prix. Our video will include the special highlight of the show when MC Lonnie Teper talked Ronnie Coleman into taking off his shirt and posing his 330lb 'off-season' physique for all his fans! Ronnie even showed abs so expect to see fireworks at this year's Mr. O when all the other guys try to knock him off his perch!! My report from the Arnold Classic will be next month, and so will the report on the Australian Pro Grand Prix which was held in Melbourne last weekend. ******************** We are in the process of Indexing all the videos that have appeared in "What's New" over the past year or so. This will give you another way of searching for videos other than the search function at left of each page, or searching through the Index lists to find a new release ******************* Each month I will list the 10 top selling tapes produced by us, at the top of the "What's New" page. I think you will find this most interesting., Obviously it excludes the Mr. & Ms. Olympias, and the Jay Cutler type workout tapes. So from time to time I will include a list of our bestselling "imports" as well. The 2001 Mr. Olympia leads by a mile - of course!!! Hopefully we will soon have the 2001 Battle for the Olympia. ******************** 
The following article first appeared in English 'Health & Strength' December 1970 (see thumbnail at left). For more photos from this historic event, see our V-108. Also there's a pic of the programme cover from the 1970 Mr. Universe, Arnold's final Universe victory. IMPRESSIONS OF MY FIRST UNIVERSE SHOW 1970 by Wayne Gallasch (From “Health & Strength” December 1970)  Some years ago when I first commenced training, I thought how fantastic it would be if I could actually see a Mr. Universe contest. Due to the great distance between Australia and England this seemed impossible. However, this year the dream became a reality as I was able to be present at what will surely rank as the greatest physique contest of ALL TIME.
And now for the things which impressed me most. I think the highlight of the show was the clash between four multi-title winners in Arnold S., Boyer Coe, Reg Park and Dave Draper for the overall professional title. It has been said that champions will not compete against each other, but such is the honour of competing in a Universe contest personal pride is forgotten. When Reg Park walked into the judging hall at he Royal Hotel, I sensed an air of excitement and there was spontaneous applause for this man who has been a physique champion for 20 years. What a fantastic record, and on this occasion Reg was not far behind Arnold – who is only half his age. The large American entry was a pleasant surprise, and I was particularly pleased to seen Frank Zane. He has a certain magic when he poses which causes the audience to scream for more. Perhaps he has the same type of appeal that Steve Reeves had when he entered contests, as both men were also very handsome. I rated Zane the best poser at this year’s Mr. Universe. It was interesting to note that his beautiful wife, Christine, made it a family double by winning the Open Bikini Contest with her near-perfect figure. This contest and Brenda Sell and her girls provided a pleasing change of pace, and provided a good balance to the predominantly male programme. As for John and Connie Citrone’s strength act, a truly great act, which is especially unique today. John has a wonderful physique and is very modest, and I hope he can bring his act to Australia some time in the future. The marvellous job done by Jimmy Saville cannot be overlooked and his presence added an extra touch of gaiety to the show, together with his own unique brand of humour. Other physiques to impress me were Boyer Coe with his size, definition and magnificent presentation. Also Kassem Yazbek for dramatic posing and fantastic abdominals. Reg Park for his great physique at 40-plus and world-famous posing; Dave Draper for his tremendous shoulder width and peaked biceps. Arnold defies description so I will not comment further apart from saying this was his third consecutive professional Mr. Universe win and perhaps he will have to be barred from future contests! In the amateurs, Frank Richard looked superb and well defined, and posed very well. It was his abdominals which helped him defeat another great new physique in Helmut Riedmeier of Germany. Helmut’s arms and overall thickness were outstanding. A probable future winner with a little more sharpness. The physique of Austrian Karl Keinrath also impressed me with its shape and proportions. In Zane’s class there were many fine physiques, and I can still picture the huge arms and incredible back of Al Beckles and the posing of Helmut Schneider. One of the greatest battles took place between Chris Dickerson with this perfect symmetry and “Bill Pearl type” posing, and Francesco Columbu with his sensational cuts (Mr. Most Muscular) and fanatical posing. Dickerson was a worthy winner. Vandensteen was in top shape with abdominals and a back equal to anyone, together with perfect posing. Frank Colombera of Australia may have placed third if he hadn’t lost his edge due to a five week boat trip from Australia. His legs were as good as Dickerson’s and with more posing experience will rank with the greatest short men in the world. In closing I must pay tribute to Oscar Heidenstam and his helpers for a magnificently run show. The judging was well handled and the show went like clockwork to finish right at 4.30 as planned. Truly an event I will never forget. (Note: Arnold won the Pro Universe from Reg Park with Dave Draper 3rd. Frank Zane won the overall Amateur Universe.) |
