Written by Peter McGough
12 December 2014

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Chris Cormier: His Unwanted Arnold Six-Pack

 

 

 With the competitors for the 2015 Arnold Classic about to be named here’s a review at the unique record of one of the contest’s most ubiquitous warriors.

 Imagine looking at a Powerball lottery ticket and the first five winning numbers are glaring back at you, and then when checking the actual the sixth and clinching number you are one digit away from telling the boss to shove it where the sun don’t shine (no I don’t mean Great Britain). In a split second you went from “Pina-colada time, baby!” to “Give me shot of Scotch for Gosh sakes.” Now that happening once is prone to freak you out more than being stuck in an elevator with Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump. But imagine it happening six times on the bounce and you’ll get an inkling of what Chris Cormier endured as he finished second in six consecutive Arnold Classic appearances.

 Before looking in more detail at Chris’s Columbus Groundhog Day travails, you should know – if you don’t already – that he is one of the most friendly guys ever to incline press a pair of 200-pound dumbbells. I first met him back in 1992 and interviewed him when, at age 25, he won the heavyweight and overall titles at the 1993 NPC USA Championships. (Incidentally the heavyweight line-up that day read: 1 Chris Cormier; 2 Mike Francois; 3 Paul DeMayo; 4 Craig Titus; 5 Ken Castagnoli; 6 Dennis Newman; 7 Beau Matlock; 8 Bob Cicherillo. All of those eight, apart from Castagnoli and Matlock went on to win pro cards via a USA or Nationals overall victory: We don’t see line-ups like that any more.)

 Despite his blue-collar approach to gym work Chris was always ready for a laugh and he and his gym buddies, Flex Wheeler and Rico McClinton would regularly visit my LA office and regale me with their latest antics. If you ever meet Rico ask him to do his hallowed impersonation of Flex’s walk – it’s hysterical.

 Prior to 2000, this inhabitant of Gold’s, Venice had entered three Arnold Classics, his record reading: 1994, 4th; 1998, 5th; 1999, 3rd. And then the fun started.

 CHRIS’S DIRTY HALF-DOZEN

 So the new millennium arrives and here’s a year-by-year account of Chris Cormier’s runner-up run at the Arnold Classic.

 2000: Flex Goes Fourth Seven days before the Arnold Classic Chris had beaten his buddy Flex Wheeler at the Ironman and arrived in Columbus pretty confident he could give the Sultan of Symmetry the old one-two. In truth Wheeler (runner-up at the last two Olympias) wasn’t at his best at the Ironman and was holding more water than an Evian delivery truck. Thus in the week preceding the Arnold a rubber-suited Flex was to be found enduring a daily session of three hours on the treadmill to flush out his unwanted liquid assets and was rewarded by his efforts by taking a record fourth Arnold Classic title. He was in tears when the victory was announced, proving that his water depletion strategy hadn’t worked with 100 percent efficiency. That’s as may be, but Chris Cormier was second when it seemed he was poised for the win.

 2001: The Coleman Cometh Let’s say it straight don’t ever be tempted to let Chris Cormier make your roulette calls in Vegas: The guy just ain’t lucky. How else do you explain that in the 2001 Arnold he found himself facing the reigning Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman? Now a reigning Mr. Olympia had never before – or since – entered an Arnold Classic. And worse than that, The Real Deal had to contend with a version of Coleman that many insist represented his best ever form. Long story short, Chris was consigned to second place … again!

2002: Oh, Jay So the next year our hero runs into Jay Cutler hot off his controversial second place to Ronnie Coleman at the 2001 Olympia. But Jay didn’t exactly walk this one, his superior mass probably nudging him ahead of Cormier’s lines. The third-time runner-up commented: “I’ve got more detail than Jay, a more classic physique. My muscle insertions go all the way down. All in all, I think I presented a superior physique at the Arnold.”

 2003: The Rematch With Cutler defending his title Chris went for all out condition this time around and ended up a little flat and which enabled Jay to carve out a clearer victory than had been the case the previous year.

 2004: Cormier Doesn’t Take The Fifth In this his fifth consecutive Arnold campaign this was the one that many thought the Real Deal had sealed the deal. Cutler and Cormier both came in around the 260-pound mark but the former was flat making him appear smaller than usual. By comparison the seemingly perennial runner-up was full and detailed. As the contest progressed it seemed at long last that victory would finally be his and that he had put a new spin on the sporting phrase, “Seconds out!” But the verdict went to the defending champ with the scorecards showing that they won two rounds apiece with Cutler’s margin of victory being just one point. Almost in tears Cormier insisted, “Five times, man, five times in a row I’ve been second. I beat him, everyone knows I beat him.”

 2005: No Joy in Six Cutler didn’t enter in 2005, which boded well for Cormier, but in the end the third-place finisher from the previous year, Dexter Jackson, vaulted over our subject who for an amazing sixth consecutive time was the last-but-one-man standing at the Arnold Classic

 AFTER ARNOLD

 That 2005 foray was Cormier’s last Arnold adventure. In an age of mass his aesthetics battled against the trend and in the years 1999-2005 he compiled one helluva resume. It reads: 35 contests; 10 wins; 16 seconds; five thirds; one fifth; two sevenths, one thirteenth (the 2005 Olympia when he was ill and shouldn’t have entered). He ended his career with sixth place at the 2007 Atlantic City Pro but is still a welcome and cheerful attendee at most major contests. A barometer of Cormier’s unique Arnold record is that five of his defeats were against men who have won the Olympia, and the other was to Wheeler, who many feel is the best bodybuilder to never win the Olympia.

 The Real Real Deal: A month or so after the 2005 Arnold, Cormier reflected: “In a way, finishing second so many times is also a backhanded compliment. One of the marks I plan to leave on this sport is the fact that I was a top competitor for so long. Many bodybuilders today have short, meteoric careers. They do well during one season, and then they never regain their former conditioning. So I take pride in that.”

 “So,” I asked, “You’ve come to terms with finishing second six times in a row?”

 He paused, before exploding with laughter, “Fuck, no! Six fuckin’ times man! Can you believe that, Silver Fox [his pet name for me]? Can you fuckin’ believe it?”

 Chris you were a great bodybuilder and you’ve been an even greater friend. See you soon.

 

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