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Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for his action-star persona and has been a profitable actor since the 80s. He has starred in blockbusters such asThe Terminator, Commando, Total Recall, Conan The Barbarian,andPredator.He also served as the Governor of California for eight years.
Before becoming an actor, Schwarzenegger was known for his body-building career and was the youngest Mr. Olympia winner of all time. The legendary actor had been the reigning champion for a while and decided to make a comeback in 1980, winning the title again. However, he mentioned that he was almost losing the competition before he got a warning from a judge.
Also read:Sylvester Stallone Secretly Helped Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Rival Financially to Help Him Beat the Mr Olympia Winner in a Legal Battle
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Reign As Mr. Olympia
Known as the ‘Austrian Oak’,Arnold Schwarzeneggerhas dedicated his life to bodybuilding. The legendary action star of the 80s gained notoriety for his reign as the champion of the Mr. Olympia contest, which he won seven times, with six of them being consecutive wins.
Schwarzenegger reportedly wanted to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time and has been training since the 60s. He apparently skipped attending his father’s funeral because he was training for a bodybuilding contest. The actor’s goal to be the greatest bodybuilder would only be fulfilled by winning the legendary Mr. Olympia competition.
The actor won his first Mr. Olympia competition in 1970, which was his second attempt at the title. At the time he was the youngest Mr. Olympia, winning the title at the age of twenty-three. TheTrue Liesstar holds that record to this day. He would later win the title five more times from 1971 to 1975. He announced his retirement from bodybuilding after he won the 1975 title.
Also read:“We are having a battle between people today in the late 70s and early 80s”: Arnold Schwarzenegger is Not Happy With How America Chooses its Presidents
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Controversial Win At The 1980 Mr. Olympia
After retiring from bodybuilding in 1975, Arnold Schwarzenegger started his acting career, appearing in films such asStay HungryandHercules in New York. The actor was reportedly in good shape while training for the filmConan the Barbarianand had secretly decided to compete and win the Mr. Olympia title one last time in 1980.
The actor never revealed to anyone about his decision to compete and was reportedly maintaining that he was still training for the film. When he was chosen as a commentator for the competition, he announced that he would be competing for the title and then joined the lineup. He ended up winning the title again, which has been regarded as a controversial decision.
Also read:“Arnold doesn’t move me”: Jean-Claude Van Damme Insulted Terminator Star After Labeling Him a Poor Actor, Prefers Sylvester Stallone Instead
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s win sparked a lot of debate as he was considered to be not a par with the rest of the competitors. Fellow bodybuilder Mike Mentzer reportedly left bodybuilding after the 1980 event as he felt cheated by the win. Adding to this, Schwarzenegger revealed that he won the competition by a small margin after he was warned by judge Bill Pearl.
Schwarzenegger described the incident at theArnold Sports Festival,
“[Bill Pearl] came to me in the afternoon and said, ‘Arnold, you’re in trouble. You’re in third place, so you have to pull off some trick by the evening’…I was going crazy with this. I had a few hours between the afternoon pre-judging and the evening pose. I posed and posed and sweated out an extra three pounds…I pulled it off and got the extra points with my posing and won the competition.”
The win has been highly criticized, with Arnold Schwarzenegger having only six weeks of preparation for the competition. With this trivia, the legendary actor seems to have fanned the fire again.
Also read:“I don’t want to hear that”: Jean-Claude Van Damme Turned Down Sylvester Stallone’s Biggest Action Franchise on a Matter of Principle
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2416
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
