2009 Olympia Blog

6th place
Melvin Anthony

5th place
Toney Freeman

4th place
Dennis Wolf

Dennis Wolf, 4th Place

Melvin Anthony, 6th Place

It’s time now for the Mr. Olympis Top 6 posedown - and the top 6 bodybuilders are all looking very impressive.

If you’re wondering where the live webcast is, click here:

http://webcast.bodybuilding.com/fitshow/2008olympia/webcast/big/big.html

Impressive! 

10th place
Gustavo Bardell   He has better attitude than normal and smiles. Seems happy with his placing.

9th place
Moe Elmoussawi

8th
Dennis james

7th
Silvio Samuel

1)  Dexter Jackson - $155,000
2)  Jay Cutler - $90,000
3)  Phil Heath - $60,000
4)  Dennis Wolf - $48,000
5)  Toney Freeman - $38,000
6)  Melvin Anthony - $30,000
7)  Silvio Samuel - $18,000
8)  Dennis James - $17,000
9)  Moe Elmoussawi - $16,000
10)  Gustavo Badell - $14,000

Congrats, Dexter!! 

Once again Joe Weider is up on stage to give appriciation medals to the men when they enter the stage. He is smiling and shaking hands with the competitors.

Time again for the womens figure.

6th place
Sonia Adcock

5th place
Mary Elisabeth lado

4th place
Jenny Lynn

3rd place
Zivile Raudoniene

2nd place
Gina Aliotti

1st
Jennifer Gates

Melvin Anthony
He looks harder when he is posing but otherwise a bit soft.
Smooth poser as always. Very graceful and take his time to impress the audience. Slowly tunes that goes into faster beat from Maonna and Justin Timberlake.Now we see the real Melvin The great poser. He rocks the house and finish with a split.

Dexter Jackson
Bigger this year but not as hard as on Arnold’s. Pose as useul very serious and graceful. Looks a bit smooth compare to yesterday but still sharp and in the top.

David Henry
Happy today from his win of the 202 Showdown. He reminds us of a smaller Phil Heath. He has improved his back this year and his condition. This weight suits him like hand in the glove.
Very hard in his most muscular pose. Starts off with slowly music and continue with funky cook hip hop.

Dennis Wolf
Many have been waiting for this day to see Dennis Wolf’s improvements from last year. He looks harder tonight with more details and tiny waist. Has packed on size since last year.

Striated gluteus and lower back. His hamstring has imroved a lot from last year. Lower back is thicker and deeper. Very powerful music. Needs more calves to be  complete. He has improved his back this year but maybe not enough.

Fouad Abiad    
Rookie looks like a veteran as he poses. He wasn’t going to do show up to 6 weeks ago. I think the crowd was glad he changed his mind.
Hit the nail on it’s head with his condition.

Silvio Samuel

Starts off with soft tunes and moves. Tightest contestant on this stage. Incredible physique and size.

Dennis James
Very full and smaller waist. Has a lot of mass but carry it all better this year. He is not super tight. He is controlling his waist so much better this year, Pose to hip hop music and rock those muscles. His most muscular is super.

Time for the routines

1 Toney Freeman.. He get the crowd going with groovie music He is sharp but not super sharp. His x frame is impressive and the crowd love his moves. He definately in the top 6 tonight.

2Moe Elmoussawi  Starts slowly to get into harder tunes. He has good condition but not really tight and his waist is a it bloated and extended..

3 Gustavo Bardell   Little bit harder from last night but to late. Polished performance during his routine.

4 Darrem Charles   Routine is most like his other routines but still has same efect on the crowd. Posing robotic and grovie funkie hip hop. His condition has been good of late and tonight is no exeption

IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Toney Freeman takes the stage first in the men’s posing routines, and he’s looking great!

His conditioning is great, and he’s much improved from a couple of weeks ago - he nailed it here tonight!

Go X-Man!! 

Henry Wins the 202!
By Myron Mielke

In the inaugural 202 Showdown at the 2008 Mr. Olympia, David Henry was victorious. He sharpened up a bit from his showing only 12 hours before when he stood on stage with the rest of the competitors at the Mr.Olympia judging on Friday night. By winning the the 202 Showdown Henry solidified his place as one of the best in the IFBB.

Anxious fans and coaches awaited the beginning of the 202 Showdown. As the case at every bodybuilding show, the smell of ProTan filled the air. I took a quick peak backstage as the competitors were pumping up. It was very intense. No one was talking and each athlete had looks of intensity on their faces as they methodically repped out side lateral raises after side lateral raises. The first guy I saw was Ray Arde and he looked impressive. He was very dark and his coloring looked very even. From backstage I thought he had a lock on being in the top five. Kevin English was covered up when I was there.

I went back out front and grabbed my seat. Well, actually it was Shawn Perine’s seat (his nametag was stuck on the chair). But he wasn’t there until later on so I sat down. He was a good guy and left me keep my seat, however, as he went to sit with the rest of the guys from Flex Magazine in the row behind me.

The 202 Showdown would be held as an all-in-one show. The judging occurred and then the finals with the routines immediately followed. The whole show was over in less than two hours, including a brief intermission.

Rich Gaspari was sitting a few seats down from me cheering on Flex Lewis and shouting out a few coaching tips while he was on stage. The standard, "Bring it back!" and "There you go!" I found the striking similarity between Gaspari and Lewis uncanny. Both became pros at a very young age and both are known for ultra conditioning along with ripped glutes. Lewis had many moves like Gaspari used to do on stage. The rocking of the abdominals and the shifting of legs during the front abdominal pose had Gaspari written all over it.

Top Six
Although there were only three places given out, six finalists were called out for the posedown. Making the cut were Flex Lewis, Roc Shabbaz, George Farah, Kevin English, Jason Arntz and David Henry. Of the final six I nearly in agreement. I say nearly because I would have had Ray Arde in the final six and not George Farah. I thought Ray Arde looked great and his shape alone should have carried him into the finals.

Four through Six
At the time of the writing of this article I didn’t see any score sheets or talk to the judges so I’m not sure which order these three were, so I’ll pick the order to my choosing.

George Farah
I thought Farah’s coloring was a little muddy and he has been much sharper in other contests. He seemed to be a little soft compared to the other guys in the top six. If he would have had another week or two to prepare, I think George could have been fighting for a top-three spot. But, of course, he didn’t have another two weeks and his physique showed it.

Jason Arntz
Arntz was in good shape and he was dry. His abs looked great and his legs were very tight and chiseled. His quads and hams were great. His coloring was good too. He looked a little smaller than the last time I saw him compete at the Iron Man. I thought his arms could have been a little bigger and fuller, especially the triceps. His delts didn’t seem as overpowering as they have been in the past.

Roc Shabbaz
Roc stole the posing presentation round. He came out to the music of Rocky and was escorted by some unknown guy by the name of Ronnie Coleman who was wearing a Team Roc shirt. Ronnie took Roc’s robe and boxing gloves. Shabbaz sported  red, white and blue star-spangled posing trunks. It reminded me of Coleman’s on-stage trunks change in 2001 when the nation was still in shock from 9/11 and feeling patriotic. Roc had a great routine and it was choreographed well.

Flex Lewis
The Rich Gaspari clone managed to take home third place. I think it was very close and he might have snagged second if his back was a little thicker. He’s got plenty of time to grow and fill out, though. And he’s a got a great mentor and nutritional coach who can speed that process up. I spoke with Flex and his nutritional coach Neil Hill at the Expo on Friday. Flex was busy eating rice cakes and bananas as we were talking. Neil explained that he had Flex eating 100 grams of carbs every two hours yesterday. Flex just smiled and said most people can’t believe how many carbs he takes in when he carb loads. It’s a lot more than most guys. That’s for sure!

Kevin English
He’s the silent type. I didn’t hear him say a word while I was back stage. He was just intensely pumping up and getting ready to do battle. He was in good condition, but I thought he was holding water in his hamstrings. I couldn’t quite tell because his coloring or his oil application didn’t allow the light to reflect on his lower legs during back poses. I was in the second row and had a hard time seeing the definition. Kevin has a great victory pose, but he seemed upset that the victory wasn’t his when he was announced in second place.

David Henry
David Henry was very emotional when he was called out in first place and it had sunk in that he won the show. He kneeled down for a moment to soak it in and try and compose himself. It was evident that he wanted this win badly and that he had worked very hard for it. His wife was in the audience and screaming approval for her hubby. Henry had a broad smile on his face when Bob and Dan raised his hands overhead in victory for the celebratory pose for the cameras.

Conclusion
Backstage Henry was all smiles and posing for lots of photos with friends surrounding him. His wife was with him and was very excited for him. Henry’s day wasn’t over yet, however. He still had the Olympia finals to prepare for.

Gaspari was very excited for his protégé and was posing for a variety of photos also. I asked Flex if he could go eat and Rich chimed in, "Oh no. He’s got photoshoots to do tonight." Flex nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow you can eat?"

"Yes, tomorrow I will eat," replied Lewis happily.

David Henry is bowing down and crying. He is overwhelmed.   He deserved this so much after bringing in the total package.

Flex goes up to Henry to congrat him but English does not.

They all join up for a group shot.

This is finalizing this first ever 202 showdown of Olympia.
A new era has begun in bodybuilding.

Marika Johansson