2001 Arnold Classic & Fitness Weekend Report:

By Wayne Gallasch

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

Fitness Weekend Report

Held in Columbus, Ohio March 2-4, this was the only major event in World bodybuilding which I had never attended, apart from the NOC.  Now I know what I have missed in the previous 12 years!  It was a sensational experience, cram packed with various events, which revolve around fitness, strength, the gym and of course bodybuilding contests.

After considerable negotiations I was able to shoot the Expo.  This also included the prejudging for the Ms. International and Fitness International on the main Expo Stage, as well as arm wrestling for men and women.

At the Veterans Memorial Auditorium I was able to shoot my traditional “Behind the Scenes” videos for men and women featuring pump room, and back and side stage footage.  I did not shoot traditional FINALS videos for the 3 events but hope it can be negotiated for next year.

However my special thanks to Mike and Matt Lorz for making it easy for me to shoot some front stage posing and awards for the Arnold Classic to spice up the backstage videos and give them  more depth.  As a physique cameraman of 31 years you cannot imagine the frustration of just standing around backstage with a video camera, itching to roll tape, but no one to shoot as the competitors  are all out on stage!  Fortunately I was allowed to catch some CLASSIC highlights, as mentioned, including Arnold’s special Lifetime Achievement Award to his long time friend REG PARK .

It was a fantastic event, superbly run and organized with a personal touch evident throughout from Arnold and Jim Lorimer.  Arnold, complete with stubble, worked his butt off, from visiting the Expo, to being photographed with almost “everyone”, to interviews and photos with the winners and top athletes to humorous speeches on stage.  It was vintage Arnold at his best, and as I remembered him 29 years ago when I shot the poolside posing films with him and Franco in Australia in 1972.  I last saw Arnold in 1980 when he won the Mr. Olympia title in Sydney. But it was not possible to just go up and chat to him backstage due to the pressure of things he had to do and security around him at all times.

Other highlights included the largest and best pump-up weights area I have ever seen, the fantastic condition of all of the athletes – especially Ronnie who was in the best shape of his life; taping at the Expo with Bill Grant who I had not seen for 25 years; David Paul the Barbarian; Anja Langer, Skip LaCour, Jenny Worth, Dawn Sutherland, Melvin Anthony and King Kamali just to name a few. The EXPO was held in the magnificent Greater Columbus Convention Center.

I caught up with old friends such as Albert Busek from Germany (he had the gym in Munich where Arnold trained as a 20 year old), Bob Gardner the famous backstage photographer for Joe Weider at these events, John Balik, Ray Cassar, Bob Kennedy, Kerry Kayes, Willy Zdenek and other old friends from around the world.

A sell out crowd of 5000 saw Ronnie create history as he became the first ever Mr. Olympia to win the Arnold Classic.  “The big nasty” as he is affectionately called, lifted the roof each time he appeared on stage.  His fans just went crazy!  He also won the Most Muscular Man award – easily! Sadly I could not cover the World Record Bench Press Challenge as it clashed with the Men’s Prejudging.  2 world records were set so I probably need 3 cameras at the Arnold Weekend next year so I can cover everything!

Then perhaps I can cover the Sunday morning Fitness Training Seminar which was held at the Veterans Memorial while I spent all Sunday taping at the Expo, about 1 mile away.  It was not easy to transfer all the video equipment quickly from one location to the other, even with the help of my long time helper and interviewer Clive Jaques.