Where Have All The Young Guns Gone?
Where Have All The Young Guns Gone?
The Average Age of Pros Continues to Rise
It was refreshing to see 21 years olds Dominick Cardone and Terrance Ruffin win the heavyweight and lightweight titles respectively and the accompanying IFBB pro cards at last weekend’s NPC Nationals. Guys in the twenties winning pro cards used to be a regular occurrence. I know what you’re thinking: “There now follows another nostalgic old fart discourse from Cough”.
Remember the days when the likes of Lee Haney, Rich Gaspari, Lee Labrada, Shawn Ray, Dorian Yates, Kevin Levrone, Paul Dillett, Chris Cormier, Nasser El Sonbaty, Jean Pierre Fux, Lee Priest, and Jay Cutler were crashing into the Mr. Olympia upper echelons while in their 20s? Well, like bell-bottom jeans, Bill O’Reilly’s humility and Lindsay Lohan being up for the lead role in a remake of Mary Poppins, those days are long gone.
Dexter Jackson highlighted the “Thirty is the new Twenty” syndrome when in the aftermath of the 2010 Mr. Olympia contest he spoke of a new breed coming through and pinpointed, quite rightly, Phil Heath as the future with the comment, “He’s a 30 year old puppy.” And the truth is Heath was a puppy of the Olympia litter then and was still one of the younger dogs in the 2014 Olympia line-up last September as he took his third Sandow at age 34.
Here’s the 2013 Mr. Olympia cast of flexers and their ages at the time of the contest: Phil Heath (33), Kai Greene (38), Dennis Wolf (34), Shawn Rhoden (38), Dexter Jackson (43), Jay Cutler (40), Roelly Winklaar, (36), Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay (28), Branch Warren (38), Lionel Beyeke (33), Victor Martinez (40), Cedric McMillan (36), Evan Centopani (31), Steve Kuclo (28), Toney Freeman (46), Baitollah Abbaspour (35), Brandon Curry (31), Johnnie Jackson (42), Essa Hassan Obaid (33), Robert Piotrkowicz (39). So out of 20 guys only two – representing 10% of the field -- were in their 20s.
THE OLDIES WERE YOUNGIES
Turn the clock back 20 years to the 1994 Mr. Olympia and check out the ages of the top ten and the data shows that six of the combatants (Shawn Ray, 2nd; Kevin Levrone, 3rd; Paul Dillett, 4th; Chris Cormier, 6th; Nasser El Sonbaty, 7th; Andreas Munzer, 10th) were in their twenties. The odd four out were winner Dorian Yates, fifth placed Porter Cottrell, eighth-placed Charlie Clairmonte (who were all 32) and 41-year-old Sonny Schmidt in ninth spot. Thus 60% of the line-up were in their twenties, with Yates, Cottrell and Clairmonte still being younger than 16 of the guys who reported for duty at the 2013 Olympia.
There are maybe a couple of reasons that the average age of Olympians has risen remarkably in the past decade or so. One, with more lucrative contracts and prize money available there’s more incentive for guys to stay in the sport and get better. Some will cite (but moi does not necessarily agree) that a second factor is that standards (maybe bodyweights is a better word) have risen so it takes longer to build an Olympia worthy physique than was true in the past. Maybe, maybe not.
OLYMPIA YEAR BOOK
Against the scenario that the Olympians are growing old together it’s interesting to compile a list to check the ages of history’s 13 Mr. Olympia winners when they first won the title. Peruse the following.
First
Larry Scott 1965 26
Sergio Oliva 1967 26
Arnold Schwarzenegger 1970 23 *
Franco Columbu 1976 35
Frank Zane 1977 35
Chris Dickerson 1982 43
Samir Bannout 1983 27
Lee Haney 1984 24
Dorian Yates 1992 30
Ronnie Coleman 1998 34
Jay Cutler 2006 33
Dexter Jackson 2008 38
Phil Heath 2011 31
* At 23 years and two months Schwarzenegger is the youngest man to have won the Mr. Olympia. Lee Haney was one week shy of his 25th birthday when he won the crown.
Thus of the first eight Mr. Olympias, five were in there twenties when gaining the title, while all of the last five Mr. Os were in their thirties when being awarded their first Sandow. And we haven’t witnessed a 20 something holding the title since 29-year-old Lee Haney triumphed in Rimini, Italy in 1989 a quarter of a century ago.
So even though there are more chances to grab a pro card today than there was in the past, the average age of the pro brigade continues to rise. Hell, if it gets much higher there may be a case to move the Mr. Olympia to Florida and recruit Medicare as sponsors.