Written by Ron Harris
28 December 2017

17toptenstories

The Top 10 Stories of 2017

 

 

Another year has come and gone in this glorious, insane and bizarre sport called bodybuilding. 2017 was chock-full of triumphs, tragedies and typical bodybuilding drama. Let’s look back at 10 stories that had the boards blazing.

 

1. Dallas McCarver Dies at 26

The biggest story of the year was also the most tragic. Late on the night of August 22, Dallas was found unconscious on the floor of his Florida home by fellow IFBB pro Josh Lenartowicz, who was staying in his home while visiting from Australia and training for the upcoming Mr. Olympia. Initial reports seemed to indicate that he had choked to death, though a leaked 911 call from Josh made several frantic references to insulin use and a possible diabetic coma. A rumor circulated weeks later that the official cause of death had been determined to be edema in the left ventricle of the heart. This was unsubstantiated, as the results of Dallas’ autopsy were not made public until late November. The official cause of death was determined to be a blockage in the coronary artery. It was also discovered postmortem that Dallas had undiagnosed thyroid cancer. Perhaps most startling were the clinical analyses of his organ weights. Both his heart and liver were three times the size of a normal human’s, and his lungs were double the usual size.

 

At the Arnold Classic Australia in March, Dallas had collapsed onstage and was forced to withdraw from the competition, claiming to be suffering from a severe upper respiratory infection. No evidence of this was found in his autopsy. Was that frightening incident a foreshadowing or a warning of what was to occur five months later? We may never know. At the time of his premature death, Dallas was making tremendous progress and was weighing a lean, hard 335 pounds at 6 feet tall. People will debate the contributing factors of his death and use it to further their own agendas against the sport of bodybuilding and PED use for years to come, but what’s lost in this story is that a young man is no longer with us. Those who knew Dallas universally agreed he was kind, considerate, humble, generous and had a wonderful sense of humor. The fact that he was destined to be a superstar and a possible Mr. Olympia champion is almost beside the point in the big picture.

 

RIP Dallas McCarver

April 9, 1991-August 22, 2017

 

2. The Death of Rich Piana

Just three days after Dallas passed, we lost another industry star. In one sense, the tragedy wasn’t quite as severe, as Rich was a full 20 years older at 46. But to his legions of fans around the world who identified with his “5 percent” philosophy of living life on one’s own terms, it was a dark day indeed. Piana, who had become both famous and infamous for his outrageous appearance and outspoken YouTube videos, collapsed on August 7 while getting a haircut from his girlfriend, Chanel Jansen. Conflicting reports indicated that he had either suffered a heart attack or a sudden drop in blood sugar due to insulin use, and had hit his head in the fall. Piana was placed in a medically induced coma, and died nearly three weeks later. In retrospect, some of his statements about steroid/drug use now appear ironic, such as this one made in a December 2014 YouTube video:

       

“You need to be aware, educated and willing to do whatever it takes to remain healthy and keep the body healthy. Remember this is longevity. We want to be doing this in our 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s,” he continued. “I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life … It’s important for me to live a long life.”

 

As with Dallas, autopsy results were released in November. No official cause of death was determined, though it was noted that Piana showed significant coronary atherosclerosis. Samples that may have provided further clues via toxicology analysis had been discarded just three days into Rich’s coma of over two weeks that preceded his death.

 

3. The IFBB Splits

Some of you are old enough to remember the announcement at the 1990 IFBB Mr. Olympia that a new, rival organization owned by pro wrestling magnate Vince McMahon, called the WBF, was seeking to recruit top stars. The 2017 O saw a similarly shocking turn of events begin to unfold, one that will undoubtedly have longer and more far-reaching consequences than Vince’s short-lived attempt to marry pro bodybuilding and sports entertainment. At the start of the Amateur Olympia judging, there was an incident in which IFBB judges from around the world were replaced with the same IFBB Pro League judges who were set to adjudicate the various pro divisions of the Olympia Weekend. This led to a memo being posted by IFBB President Rafael Santonja that both the NPC and IFBB Pro League (which became a separate entity from the IFBB in 2005) were both suspended and under investigation by the IFBB Disciplinary Commission. Not long after, it was announced that the IFBB Pro League and the IFBB were no longer affiliated. Winning IFBB amateur events around the world would no longer qualify athletes to compete in IFBB Pro League events such as the Mr. Olympia, Arnold Classic and the New York Pro. Jim Manion, President of both the NPC and IFBB Pro League, revealed that he would be holding his own pro qualifiers around the world. Meanwhile, Santonja is starting his own pro organization, called IFBB Elite Pro. Already we are seeing sides being chosen. For instance, the Arnold Classic in Ohio and in Australia will remain IFBB Pro League events, but the shows in South Africa, Spain and Brazil will be under the Elite Pro banner. In the end, athletes will have more options as to where to compete, and they will choose what they feel is best for them.

 

4. The Meteoric Rise of Derek Lunsford

Heading into the 2017 NPC USA Championships, 24-year-old Derek Lunsford was certainly one of the favorites. He had been runner-up in the middleweight class the year before, after having won the overall at the Junior Nationals just prior. It should be noted that Lunsford was the welterweight Junior Nationals winner in 2015. This year, he entered at the very top of the light-heavyweight class, yet losing none of the crisp condition he’d displayed in the past. On the night of July 29, the Indiana native became the newest USA Overall Champion, joining past greats like Flex Wheeler, Phil Heath and Chris Cormier. Most newly minted pros these days tend to wait a year or even two before stepping on an IFBB stage. Yet one week later, Derek had the audacity to enter the Tampa Pro in the 212 division. Not only did he place, but he won, which qualified him for the Mr. Olympia contest just six weeks later. Many newer pros in recent years, such as the late Dallas McCarver and Justin Compton, had qualified for the Olympia more than once, but chose to wait until they felt they were ready for the biggest contest in our sport. Phil Heath himself had done the same in both 2006 and 2007. Not this kid. Derek stormed into Las Vegas, the city he’d turned pro in only seven weeks beforehand, ready to take on the best 212 competitors in the world, a few of whom had been training since Derek had been in diapers. The end to this Cinderella story saw Lunsford earn a coveted top-five spot at the Olympia, which cemented his spot as Rookie of the Year and made him an instant star.

 

5. The Rise of Classic Physique

The NPC and IFBB introduced a new division in early 2016 called Classic Physique, and in only its second season of existence, it’s snowballed into both a fan and athlete favorite. Those who had either wandered away from bodybuilding or never got involved in the first place due to a distaste for the extremes it’s gone to have embraced Classic and the ideals of shape, symmetry, aesthetics and proportion that it both represents and rewards. Though the initial Classic Physique Olympia in 2016 was won by 48-year-old bodybuilding veteran Danny Hester, this year’s event came down to two new stars of the division. They were 22-year-old phenom Chris Bumstead from Canada, a six-footer with matinee-idol looks, wicked wheels and a crazy vacuum, and Old School Labs® Ambassador Breon Ansley, an actor from Los Angeles with shape and proportions Michelangelo would be envious of. The two were close enough to come down to a coin toss, but in the end, it was Ansley’s hand that was raised in victory. As for Bumstead, the phrase “time is on his side” is an understatement. Many feel that with improvements to his back and arms, he could hold the Olympia title for many years.

 

6. Ramy Nearly Becomes Mr. O

According to the score sheets of the 2017 Mr. Olympia contest, Phil Heath won his seventh title with a perfect score of first-place votes from every judge. For those in the audience as well as those watching the live stream online around the world, the contest was much closer than those scores indicate. Kuwait’s Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay was a 305-pound muscular force to be reckoned with, and many felt he had finally improved enough to knock out the reigning champion. He appeared to beat Phil handily in several key poses, and judges moved him to the critical middle spot in the lineup during several comparisons. Alas, it was not meant to be. Ramy’s Mr. Olympia record shows a steady upward progression: eighth, seventh, fifth, fourth and most recently, second place. The score sheets would tell you he was never in contention for the win. The fans who were there would tell you otherwise.

 

7. Bubble Gut Mr. Olympia?

One reason many objected to Phil Heath’s being awarded a seventh Mr. Olympia title was that he displayed both notable abdominal distension and a distracting umbilical hernia that jutted from his belly like a little thumb. The hernia was repaired surgically two weeks later, but many fear the more noticeable bubble gut isn’t going away, especially now that Heath has taken his stage weight to over 250 pounds at 5’9”. In a social media response to critics who jibed that he appeared to be gestating a baby, Phil retorted, “my bank account ‘bout to be pregnant.” Shawn Rhoden also displayed a bloated midsection at Friday night’s judging, leading some to label this year’s rendition of our sport’s biggest show, “The Bubble Gut Mr. Olympia.”

 

8. Arnold Wants Random Drug Testing

In his press conference prior to the start of the Arnold Europe event in Barcelona, Arnold surprised many when he suggested that random drug testing should be implemented in pro bodybuilding in order to make it “body building, rather than body destroying.” He feels that drug abuse needs to be curtailed because the sport of bodybuilding has reached such extremes that the physiques are no longer appealing. “The general public can’t relate to it, and they don’t get inspired by it, and I’m concerned about the stomachs we see onstage,” he said. As of this writing, there have been no initiatives made to put this idea into practice. Though we have had drug testing in pro bodybuilding, most notably in 1990 at the Arnold Classic and the Mr. Olympia, there has never been any type of random testing as the NFL and MLB do with their athletes. But given the power and influence of Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could make it happen sometime in the near future.

 

9. Pro Bikini Turnover at the O

For those who follow pro Bikini, the 2017 Bikini Olympia was a strange show. 2016 champ Courtney King publicly announced just two weeks out that she would not be defending her title, citing health reasons related to GI issues. Another strong contender certainly would have been Ashley Kaltwasser, the three-time Bikini Olympia champion, but she was sitting the entire season out. This left the door wide open for 2016 runner-up Angelica Teixeira, who did indeed nab the top title in Pro Bikini.

 

10. Shawn Caused Dallas to Quit MD?

At the start of 2017, Dallas McCarver was an MD athlete who posted on our online forum and did interviews and photo shoots for the magazine. Things began to go south after former MD employee Shawn Ray criticized his appearance in an NPC News Online video filmed three weeks out from the Arnold Classic. Dallas had traveled from Florida to Pittsburgh to pose for Jim Manion. Ray chastised his bloated midsection and awkward, labored posing. Dallas was not pleased at his comments. Backstage at the Arnold Australia, Shawn and Dallas spoke for the first time, and Dallas expressed his disgruntled state. After Dallas lost consciousness onstage and had to be carried off, Shawn posted the following in what he meant to be a warning to McCarver to sever ties with his coach, Chad Nicholls, listing athletes he believed had been harmed during or following being clients of Chad:

 

Nasser: Dead
Youngblood: Dead
Prince: Kidney Transplant
Wheeler: Kidney Transplant
D Long: No Kidneys
Wolf got out
Coleman near death in a bathtub before the Olympia while working with The Chad, memba that?

 

These are the ones we know about.

 

Now Dallas at 25???

 

Pray he sees the light before Darkness sets in.

 

Things that make you go, Hmmmmm?”

 

Health concerns for Dallas aside, the entire online bodybuilding community was buzzing about the sudden growth of McCarver’s midsection after a video of his guest-posing appearance at the NPC Pittsburgh show on May 6 went viral. When facing the audience while hitting his rear double biceps pose off to one side of the stage, the side angle of the NPC News Online video showed a truly enormous gut that protruded like a pregnant woman’s in her third trimester. As Shawn was paid to be a commentator and a critic, he did not hesitate to speak his mind once more. Finally, on May 29, Dallas decided he would not work for a company that allowed an employee to critique him so harshly (though Ray had explained many times that he was legitimately trying to help Dallas reach his full potential without either ruining his physique or risking his health), and officially cut his ties to MD. The cruel irony of it all was that Shawn’s earlier warnings to Dallas, whose premature death at 335 pounds is still shrouded in mystery, may indeed have been wise to heed. We will probably never know exactly what caused his death or if there is anyone to blame for contributing to it, but in retrospect, Shawn’s concerns did have at least some validity.

 

Those were the top stories of 2017. What will 2018 bring? There’s no way of knowing. But with the wide variety of people, personalities and circumstances that surround this sport of ours, you can be sure there will always be plenty to talk about.

 

Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989, and maintains the popular website ronharrismuscle.com, most notable for its blog “The Daily Pump.” He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area.

 

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