Olympia Blog

I was going to be adding a few more photos to the Blog but I have also had a number of e-mails and phone calls asking why I have not written an article about this Olympia. A lot of people have already written some really good and interesting stories so I though I would just go back and add some photos and a brief story from my personal observations from each part of the big O.

I really look forward to the press conference which is the first real event of the O experience. It is a lot of fun and it does really set the stage for the weekend. This was held at the Orleans Arena and a very enthusiastic crowd filled the room. In the audience you found everyone from pro athletes, the photographers and writers from the magazines and the real fans of bodybuilding. I think I was one of the very few people that recognized Phil Heath very well hidden away for some reason. I think he was just having fun not being noticed because actually he is just a really nice, easy going guy. For those of you saying, Phil who?, Phil is a rising star in bodybuilding. He qualified for the O but decided to pass on this one, knowing that he still needs more work to be successful at this level. We can expect to see Phil on stage at the Arnold in March 2007.

The first half of this press conference was all about the women. Taking their seats were the women bodybuilders, fitness and figure athletes. And the emcees were our own World Champion, Bob Cicherillo and an especially beautiful that night, Kim Lyons. Kim made a name for herself in this business by being a very successful fitness competitor. And now she has gone on to be the star and trainer on the television show “The Biggest Loser”. To top off a big year for Kim, she is also now engaged to pro Gunter Schlierkamp.

The program is a question and answer period for the athletes. We know Bob can be pretty biting and does not often hold back and I was surprised to see Kim keeping right up with him. They did ask some pretty direct questions and certainly tried to stir up trouble. That was especially easy to do with the fitness competitors. Some of course is planned and orchestrated and some is not. Now in that planned and orchestrated category, there is always something cooked up for the press conference. You can always depend on someone dropping their clothes. It could have been a bunch of the guys but this time it was Iris Kyle and Dayana Cadeau. Iris and Dayana are at the top of their game and are rivals on the stage. But they are also best friends so it was not surprising to see them taking it to the crowd together. This was for sure a “Wow” moment. You have to watch for those when you are taking photos.

Then it was on to the guys. This time emceed by the co-hosts of Pro Bodybuilding Weekly, Dan Solomon and again, Bob Cicherillo. I want to say something about this “radio” show. It is called “radio” for lack of a better term. You can listen to it online and you can also download it as a podcast, which is what I do. Then I listen to it when I travel, on airplanes, or on the dreaded treadmill. Pro Bodybuilding Weekly has become wildly successful. I had my doubts that this would take off, after all, what could be more visual than bodybuilding and they made it a “radio” show. But successful it is and it is deserved. Bob and Dan move it along, it is interesting and the hour goes by very quickly. I must say I look forward to it each week.

Bob and Dan brought the concept of the show to the press conference. It was well organized, they asked the questions we wanted asked and they both stirred up some trouble. These two guys are really good and this was the best press conference yet. The questioning was also taken to the audience which included both the fans and the bodybuilding press. Now I can say that I was not riveted to my seat with the questions asked by the industry media. Nothing personal, just not exciting. The one thing I did find interesting were the questions that were inevitable and asked by the fans about the new PDI federation and the suspension of Lee Priest. For those of you who have not followed this drama, Lee was qualified for the Olympia but joined the PDI and did a PDI sanctioned competition. This was in violation of IFBB rules and he was suspended. By the way, I have nothing against Lee, I like the guy. But he has a fan following and there has been a lot of name calling and griping on the internet forums about this. Well like I said it was inevitable that the fans would ask the athletes questions about Lee being suspended. I do believe they thought there would be support for this new federation. But what the fans found out was that the other athletes do not support Lee at all and are not running over to sign up at PDI. There were no double meaning answers, there were no second guesses. The athletes said very simply, Lee broke the rules and that is that. That is perhaps the most important specific thing I saw come out of the press conference.

Anyway if I have not bored you too much, please leave me a comment. I will upload another segment and some more photos soon. Thanks!