Rookie of the Year!

Roelly 'The Beast' Winklaar Jumps Into the Pros and Makes a Big Splash

It was eight years ago that a total unknown named Roelly Winklaar made his pro debut at the Arnold Classic, and immediately seized the attention of fans and media alike with his unique package of round, dense muscularity. The following was written shortly after that fateful weekend in Columbus, where we introduced The Dutch Beast to MD readers and the bodybuilding world.

Where Did This Freak Come From?

Unless you attended the Arnold Amateur show in 2009, you probably had never seen or heard of Egberton Rulove Etienne-Winklaar, better known as Roelly Winklaar. Though he’s spent most of his life in Holland, he is originally from Curaçao, a small island off the coast of Venezuela that like its better-known member of the “ABC” islands, Aruba, is part of the Netherlands Antilles. To put things in perspective, the city of Columbus— where Roelly recently made his pro debut— isn’t much bigger than Curaçao in terms of square miles, but the island’s population is just 140,000 as compared to over three-quarters of a million residents in Ohio’s capital. It’s hardly the place you would expect to produce a guy who is already hanging with some of the very top pros in the IFBB. At the Arnold Classic, his pro debut, “The Beast,” as Winklaar is known, finished a very respectable seventh place, and many felt that a more polished presentation would have moved him up a couple of spots. The 32-year-old newcomer’s 5’8”, 240-pound package of size, shape and symmetry literally had the typically jaded audience bringing the roof down. His most-muscular pose was jaw dropping, and his triceps were second in freakiness only to Phil Heath’s and were being compared to Kevin Levrone’s. The next weekend at the Australian Pro, Roelly landed in third place behind Kai Greene and Dexter Jackson, qualifying him for this year’s Mr. Olympia. The buzz around this man now is electric. Who is Roelly, and how did he get here? Luckily for you all, Boss Man Steve Blechman sent me on a mission to find out. As I sat in his room at the DoubleTree Hotel just a couple of hours before the finals of the Arnold Classic, I got the whole story.

From Humble Beginnings

Roelly is the youngest of four children, and his younger brother Quincy is well on his way to becoming a pro bodybuilder as we speak. When he was just 3 years old, Winklaar’s father died. His mother, now on her own, left the island of Curaçao for greater economic opportunities in the Netherlands, known more or less interchangeably as Holland. They settled in Lelystad, and it wasn’t long before young Roelly started in gymnastics, evidence of which can still be seen in the backflip he performs in his posing routine. He also excelled in track events and soccer, going so far in soccer as trying out for a pro team. It was through a friend of his from soccer that Roelly found bodybuilding. Needing some type of athletic outlet now that his soccer career had ended, his friend invited him to come train with him at a local place called Physical Gym. Some of you may know that Ronnie Coleman only started competing in bodybuilding because Metroflex Gym owner Brian Dobson offered him a free membership on the condition that he enter a contest. A similar situation happened with Roelly, as the gym owner couldn’t help but notice his tremendous potential. “He told me I could train for free until the contest, and if I won, I could stay on there for free and he would also sponsor my supplements,” Winklaar recalls. “How could I say no?” Six months later and after dieting just three weeks, Roelly entered and won his first contest at 176 pounds. “Not only had I never seen a contest,” he says, “I had never even seen a bodybuilding magazine yet.”

Over the new few years, Roelly steadily worked his way up the ranks, and qualified for pro status by winning his national championship in 2007. Yet he did not petition for his pro card. “I could have asked then, but I wanted to be so good that they would ask me instead,” he reveals. By 2009 his physique was finally pro caliber, and he showed that by making short work of the Arnold Amateur event, a contest full of some of the very best amateurs from all over the world. In fact, in just a couple of years, the quality of the Arnold Amateur is such that it now rivals the actual IFBB World Amateur Championships. This time, Roelly was offered pro status and he took it.

Into the Fire

Most new pros, especially if they are coming to compete in the USA for the first time and don’t have a lot of publicity behind them, opt for one of the smaller shows. The now-defunct Iron Man Pro was often a place where rookies from overseas could get their feet wet and have a chance to shine in a lineup that wasn’t too threatening. Various advisors suggested Roelly do the same, but he wasn’t interested. “I like big challenges because it brings out the best in me, so when Mr. Lorimer invited me to the Arnold Classic, I knew that’s the show I wanted to be my first,” he tells us.

Roelly also instinctively knew that doing well at the Arnold, which trails just behind the Mr. Olympia in terms of prestige, coverage and prize money, would be the fastest way to make a name for himself. “I’m 32 and I know that’s not old for a pro bodybuilder, but I feel I am ready to stand with the best men in the sport. I don’t want to wait a year or two to do that, I want to compete with them now.” And so he did, getting up on stage for the first time as a pro with the likes of Kai, Phil, Branch and Dexter. Was he nervous? A little bit, but he was far more excited. “These are the guys I look at every month in the magazines, and they are incredible champions. Knowing I would be compared with them gave me extra motivation to put every last ounce of effort into preparing for the Arnold and proving that I belonged at this level.”

Anyone who was at the show, watched the webcast or even saw the photos of the Arnold Classic can attest to the fact that Winklaar more than held his own in that elite group of athletes. With a bit more chest and back and a lot more posing practice to properly display his world-class physique, Roelly would have easily been in the top five. Considering the high level of competition at this particular Arnold Classic, that’s saying something.

Back to His Roots

Since Roelly always had family back in Curaçao, it was where he went on vacation every year. The average temperate all year there is in the mid-80s. Back in Holland, it rarely gets over 70 degrees in the summer, and winters often see the thermometer drop down to freezing. Aside from the climatic differences, Roelly began to notice a general contrast in lifestyles between the two. “In Holland, people are often stressed and worrying so much about money,” he says. “People in Curaçao are happier, more laid back and relaxed. Even if they don’t have much money, they don’t let it make them crazy and stressed out all the time about it.” Two years ago, he decided it was time to return home after all those years. Since he has one child in Curaçao and two in Holland, he does spend a significant amount of time in both places. But it’s Curaçao that has always felt like his true home, and that’s where he aims to stay now.

Looking Ahead

Roelly’s goal when we spoke was to qualify for the Mr. Olympia. “It’s been my wish ever since I began competing to one day be on that stage with the very best bodybuilders in the world,” he explains. “Even when I was just a middleweight and it seemed like a total fantasy that I would ever be big enough to do it, in the back of my mind the dream was always there, pushing me forward.”

Roelly received further fuel for his Olympia quest back in the spring of 2007 when he had the privilege of training with MD’s own Victor Martinez, who had won the Arnold Classic just a month before and would go on to nearly beat Jay Cutler at the Mr. Olympia several months later. “Victor was in Holland before he appeared at the FIBO convention in Germany,” Winklaar recounts. “I got to work out with him, and then a few days later I shared the stage at FIBO four different times with him, posing for the crowd. I didn’t feel like I deserved to share the same stage as Victor, even if it was just a fun thing at an expo, but he was very encouraging to me. He said I had excellent potential and that he expected to be competing against me within a couple of years if I kept working hard. I never forgot that, and it meant a lot to me.”

Victor’s prophecy will be coming true this September, since Roelly has already qualified for the O and has every intention of competing. But even before that, he has one more show to do in New York. Can he beat favorites like Dennis Wolf and score his first pro win, which would propel him to the Mr. Olympia with even more momentum? Only a fool would dismiss his chances of doing so.

Roelly Winklaar is a breath of fresh air, one of those rare surprises we bodybuilding fans are treated to every so often. The man has all the makings of a superstar, and the best part is that he is really just getting started. Roelly has barely scratched the surface of his full potential, and the rate of improvement he showed in just one year since winning the Arnold Amateur is evidence that this rookie is on a “roell,” if you can forgive my lame-ass pun. How far can Roelly “The Beast” Winkllar go as a pro bodybuilder? Right now, the only honest answer is, the sky is the limit.

Contest Highlights

2003 Natural Mr. Holland – Winner

2007 Holland Championships – Winner

2009 IFBB Arnold Amateur – Super Heavyweight and Overall

2010 IFBB Arnold Classic – Seventh Place

2010 IFBB Australian Pro – Third Place

2010 New York Pro – Winner

2013 IFBB Chicago Pro – Winner

2014 IFBB Wings of Strength Chicago Pro – Winner

2014 IFBB Nordic Pro – Winner

2015 IFBB Arnold Sports Festival – Sixth Place

2017 IFBB Mr. Olympia – Sixth Place