For any true bodybuilding fan, September of 2016 will be an extremely popular and highly anticipated month, because it is of course, the month of the 2016 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition in Vegas. The Olympia is full of excitement, it is full of anticipation, and for the most part at least, it is full of uncertainty as to who will win. There have been some truly iconic names to hold the coveted Mr. Olympia title over the last few decades, with names including: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, and Jay Cutler, to name but a few. More recently however, it has been ‘The Gift’ Phil Heath, that has looked dominant on stage, though like always, nothing is certain in the world of bodybuilding, so all it would take would be for Phil to come in soft, or for somebody else to simply come in looking better, and 2016 could be the year that we see a new Mr. Olympia. Here we’ll be taking a look at Phil Heath and how his chances are looking for this year’s competition.
A dominant champion – Ever since Phil beat Jay Cutler for the coveted Mr O title, each year he has looked more and more impressive, and as a result, each year he has won the competition in pretty dominant fashion. This year’s build-up to the Olympia has been slightly lacklustre at best, and truthfully we haven’t seen or heard a great deal from the athletes themselves. What we have seen from Phil however, is his usual drive and, it has to be said, slightly arrogant persona, plus his arms are looking ridiculous! Will his dominance continue? Well it has to be said that the competition this year could be lacking slightly, so his chances are better than they have been for a while.
The competitors – In the past, the race for the Mr O has been contested between Phil Heath and Kai Greene, with Kai coming perilously close a couple of years ago, and with some claiming he should actually have won. Last year was expected to be his year, yet due to a highly controversial incident regarding Kai, his sponsorships, and a supplement line he was bringing out at the time, Kai didn’t actually compete. This year, though qualified, it is widely believed that Kai again won’t compete out of principle, so who compete with Phil. Dennis Wolfe, who also looked threatening, suffered an injury not too long ago, and recent pics show him lacking a lot of his trademark size, so you have to believe that he also won’t be much of a factor. Cedric McMillian, Big Ramy, Steve Kuclo, and Shawn Rhoden could all be potential threats however, so Phil isn’t out of the woods just yet.
The Levrone factor – 2016 also appears to be the year of the comeback, as, after years upon years of speculation, Kevin Levrone has officially come out of retirement and has announced that he will be competing at the O this year. Kevin was always a genetic freak and was renowned for piling on freakish amounts of muscle in a matter of months, and if you follow him on social media, you’ll see that he is getting bigger by the week. Could Kevin upset Phil, well, most people believe not, but it will make for a truly fascinating story, and simply seeing just how huge and conditioned Kev can get himself, will make the O worthwhile in itself
