Ronnie Coleman was the comfortable winner being in even better condition than he was 4 months ago  when he won the Olympia.  Now that he has quit the Police Force he can give 100% attention to his contest preparation.  He received a cheque for $100,000, a superb trophy and a $70,000 Hummer presented by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The prize money was donated by Weider Nutrition.  Ronnie has the big double of the Olympia and the Arnold Classic within a 4 month period.

Chris Cormier won 2nd place and $45,000 donated by Physical magazine.  He was in fantastic shape.

Dennis James from Thailand placed 3rd, and received $25,000 from Executive Jet.  This was the best Dennis has ever looked, huge and "cut", and ready to place high at the 2001 Olympia.

King Kamali was 4th receiving $15,000 from Jan Tana.
Dexter Jackson was 5th receiving $10,000 from Ricart Ford.
Craig Titus was 6th receiving $5,000 from Europa.

King Kamali had the longest and most entertaining posing routine but they pulled the plug on him after about 3 1/2 minutes.  He is a man to watch, as his first pro show was only 2 weeks previous at the Iron Man.

Craig Titus – “the Teflon Man”, also did extremely well to get top 6 in this his comeback year.  His legs are outstanding and with a little more control of his mid-section he could have placed higher.  He will also be in his first Olympia this October.  Craig will feature heavily in the Arnold Pump Room video as I noticed him in front of my camera probably more than anyone else.  Melvin Anthony also worked hard in the Pump Room.  However in this contest he had to settle for 7th place.

 Others to impress me included the Ukrainian Oleg Zhur, now living in Prague, Czech Republic.  He had the best condition of anyone with shredded legs and abs and a wonderful posing routine to haunting Russian music.  He is an under rated champion due to his height (5’5”), and living in Europe and not California does not help. If he moved to USA and improved his English I am sure he would place higher in competitions and be better publicized in the magazines.

 J.D. Dawodu with his humungous arms was not far off Olympia qualification and this time his mid-section and legs cost him a higher placing.  I am glad to report that J.D. did qualify for his first Olympia at the Australian GP.  Aaron Maddron shows huge potential and will also start to move up the rankings.

 For the full results of the Arnold Classic click here:

Previous winners were:

1989 Rich Gaspari
1990 Mike Ashley
1991 Shawn Ray
1992 Vince Taylor
1993 Flex Wheeler
1994 Kevin Levrone
1995 Michael Francois
1996 Kevin Levrone
1997 Flex Wheeler
1998 Flex Wheeler
1999 Nasser El Sonbaty
2000 Flex Wheeler