Jay Cutler At the End of the Day | His Olympia Memories
Jay Cutler: At the End of the Day
His Olympia Memories
Jay Cutler the four-time Mr. Olympia is done and dusted with competition. Here he looks back on the sport’s premier contest in which he competed 13 times.
PM: When did you first become aware of the Mr. Olympia contest?
JC: When I was 12 back in 1986. One of my elder sister’s boyfriends had left a bodybuilding magazine lying around the house. The cover was a shot of Chris Dickerson winning the Mr. Olympia. Like any kid I admired action figures and superheroes. I was like, “Wow, that guy looks like Superman. I want to look like that.” I told my brother, “I want to lift weights and look like this guy.” He said, “You are crazy.” That moment was like my first love. I did not start training until many years later, but that was it for me.
PM: The first Olympia you competed in was 1999. Did you attend any Olympias before that?
JC: The 1995 Olympia in Atlanta, Georgia, was the first Olympia I saw and Dorian Yates won his third Sandow. As much negative controversy as he ever got, Dorian totally deserved it. I could not believe how much better he was than everyone else. 1995 was a pretty cool year for me that was the year I first met Joe Weider in his office.
PM: Speaking of 1995 and Dorian, we did our first interview that year. You’d just done a guest spot with Dorian in Hawaii I asked him about you and he said, “This kid’s got what it takes to get to the top.” You won four Olympias (2006, ’07, ’09. ’10). I think you should have won in 2001 and 2005. How do you look back on your Olympia career four wins, six seconds (’01, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’08, ’11.) and three other placings?
JC: Those second places made me a star. After controversially losing to Ronnie Coleman in 2001, I was the uncrowned Mr. Olympia to a lot of people. This may sound strange but going straight to the top is not necessarily the best thing unless you can actually stay there and you are young enough and good enough to defend it successfully. On the other hand it was so hard for me to get there, that I really cherished being Mr. Olympia when I finally won. Before I got there I was ready to create an aura and a mental attitude that gave me the platform to be a great ambassador for the sport. I learned a lot on the way.
PM: Expand on the effects of those second places?
JC: People marvel over the success that I have had, but success does not come from winning and being great all the time. Success is from the failures that I have had in life. It did not come easy for me. I was second to last in my first Olympia [1999]. I was told I was never going to be any good. I did not have the greatest genetics in the world, although I had the genes to get big and have wide shoulders. I did not have the smallest waist and the best structure. I did not have the crazy round muscle bellies with the small joints that everyone brags about with certain guys. I was just given the gift of the hard work and a strong sense of discipline. That was taught through my family, my dad, my brothers. They made me get up every morning on the farm and go to work doing work for their concrete company when I was seven years old. I was bred to work hard. The one thing that I had over everyone else is I always outworked them. I always trained harder and dieted like a machine. Yes, it did not lead to success and Olympia wins from the get-go. But second place finishes, made me a great champion and maybe more popular than the reigning champ. When I did win eventually [2006], it was such a big thing, an amazing feeling. And the kicker was I believe I beat the greatest body builder of all time.
PM: In 2001 you broke through with second place at the Olympia but should have won. We’ve spoken about it before, but you were okay with it.
JC: For me to step up there and challenge the greatest bodybuilder on stage at that time, I was like ecstatic about it. I was like, “Man, I just placed second at the Olympia.” I was so happy. Everyone was saying I got screwed, but I had proved myself to be the reigning Mr. Olympia’s biggest threat. I had truly arrived.
PM: 2005, when you should have win, was a different story. I remember afterwards, you were just sitting there backstage all alone for a long, long time. Did that second place really get to you?
JC: Yes, it got me. I really wanted to win that one and really believed that I could have. I really worked hard to get better that year. I thought for sure I was going to win. It was a tough one as well because I had so many people telling me, “You have got this Jay.” They asked me to improve to a certain point and I made those improvements so I thought it I was good enough. I guess I wasn’t. It was not my time. The next year I knew I was going to win. I had the guy on the ropes and he was not going to beat me this time. It just took a year longer than I wanted it to.
PM: In fact now I think of it you could have won in 2004 when the Challenge Round decided the contest. The very last pose was between you and Ronnie and whoever took that shot would win the contest. Ronnie called for the rear lat spread pose but in my opinion he picked the wrong back shot – he should have called rear double biceps. You’d eventually caught up with him on the lat spread having gained width and thickness but probably couldn’t hang with him on back biceps in which he had more detail. Watching it I thought, “Jay won this pose.” But they gave it and the Sandow to Ronnie.
JC: The Challenge Round was very controversial and many said at the end they just went for the defending champ.
PM: So of all 13 Olympias what is your outstanding memory – I wonder what it will be?
JC: You know it’s the 2009 event when after losing to Dexter Jackson I came back and won my fourth Sandow. I put everything into that contest and a good part of the motivation was the disrespect I felt from some members of the press and other self-styled experts who were saying fourth or fifth was the best I could hope for. That’s why in my posing soundtrack I had a voiceover suddenly interrupt to ask, “Jay, how do you think the press have treated you?” Back came the voice of Rodney Dangerfield, “I don’t get no respect.” That night was the greatest experience of my bodybuilding career. I felt terrific, vindicated. I had produced my best ever look and shut everybody up.