Ronnie Coleman's Mr. Olympia Memories: My First and Last

1992

This was my first year as a pro, and I had done two shows earlier that season. I took 14th place at the Night of Champions, and 11th place at the Chicago Pro. The reason I was qualified for the Mr. Olympia was because back then, the class winners from the previous year's IFBB World were all invited to the next year's Mr. Olympia. I had won the Heavyweight class, and the light-heavy and lightweight winners were also there with me in that Olympia. None of us made the top fifteen! The middleweight and bantam winners from the World were from Egypt, and they didn't apply for pro status. Anyway, it was exciting because just the year before, I had traveled outside the USA for the first time to compete in Poland at the World. The 1992 Mr. Olympia was in Helsinki, Finland, and unless something changes, it was the last one ever held out of the USA. I didn't know too many of the other guys, so I pretty much kept to myself. It was amazing to be competing with guys I had been seeing in the magazines for years like Lee Labrada, Shawn Ray, Vince Taylor, and the biggest celebrity of them all, Lou Ferrigno making a comeback after having retired 17 years earlier! The venue had a big hockey game earlier in the day, and they pretty much just covered the ice up with potato sacks for our stage. It must have been real cold, but to be honest I didn't even notice. I was too excited just to be there. My weight was only 215, so I wasn't quite Big Ron yet. I didn't get a callout and I didn't place. My condition was pretty good and I'd trained hard, but I wasn't really ready for that level yet. I still had a blast. I had only started competing in 1990, and two years later here I was up on the Mr. Olympia stage with the best in the world.

2007

I pretty much got my butt kicked here, taking fourth behind Jay, Victor, and Dexter. Fourth place at the Mr. Olympia would be nice for a lot of guys, but when you won the show eight years in a row, it was a tough break to deal with. Maybe I could have been a place higher, but no way did I think I deserved to win. People were noticing I had a pretty bad imbalance with one side of my back and one of my triceps where they didn't match the other side. That hurt me in the symmetry round, I'm sure. What most people don't know is how much pain I was in at the actual show. I did my best not to show it, but my back was in agony the whole time. It had been bothering me for a while, but over the last three or four weeks leading up to the contest it just got worse and worse. It probably had something to do with getting leaner and having less water in my body. Getting through the contest was a big relief. Once all our placings were announced, I suddenly realized I would never win this contest ever again and it was time to go. I asked to say a few words at the podium. It was real hard to talk because I was all choked up and tears were starting to flow, but I gave my thanks to everybody for my amazing career and let them know this would be my last contest. After that, I went and finally had back surgery, the first of four I've had on my spine so far. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking for a couple more years that I would come back. But after a while, it was clear I just couldn't train the way I used to, plus I just didn't have that fire anymore to go through prep. 17 years of competing was enough for me. I will always love the sport and will always be a bodybuilder, but I had my time and it was time to move on to other things.

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