The Mr. Olympia competition has seen many glorious seasons, but one year still haunts its legacy.

The 1980 Mr. Olympia has been riddled with controversy, and Arnold Schwarnegger has been facing a lot of flak for it. And now Boyer Coe, who placed fourth in the competition, has come up with a new allegation against that year's winner, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While talking to veteran bodybuilder Shawn Ray on his podcast series Where Are They Now? Boyer Coe revealed some shocking details about Schwarzenegger's seventh and final Mr. Olympia win.

"In my opinion, again, my opinion, it all started a lot earlier than that [the actual competition] because Arnold picked all the judges before they ever got there."

While Coe refused to speak more on the topic, his comments reignited the long-standing allegations about the fairness of the 1980 edition. After winning his sixth title in 1975, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his retirement to focus on his rising Hollywood career.

Schwarzenegger became part of the 1980 Mr. Olympia as a commentator and, in the last minute, decided to enter the competition, a day before the actual competition, stunning both fans and fellow competitors.

According to Coe, Schwarzenegger's unexpected return after a five-year retirement was surprising and, in his opinion, an undeserved victory. Ray also noted that the Austrian Oak, known for its massive size, appeared “very small for Arnold,” and that his legs lacked size and his overall definition was not as sharp. And that's because he had trained for just eight weeks.

Ripple effects of Schwarzenegger's win

After Arnold Schwarzenegger was announced as the winner of the 1980 Mr. Olympia, fans and competitors were outraged. Television networks decided not to broadcast the competition. New Judging rules were set.

Because of the controversial decision, Mike Mentzer, who was one of the favorites that year, placed fifth. The decision devastated him to the point that he retired from competitive bodybuilding at age 29. It is even said that during the press conference, Mentzer tried to attack Schwarzenegger but was held back.

According to Coe, that year the real competition was between him and Mike Mentzer. He even goes on to say that Mentzer had a chance at winning the title.

 "I will honestly say, I would have think Mike probably deserved to win. Because he was bigger than me. But we're about the same height. He was heavier bone than me. Now, he couldn't have posed as good as I could, but he had a lot of money. He was in good shape."

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Written by

Ruwa Javed

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil