6x Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates Shares Rare Image With One of the “Strong Bodybuilders” From the 90s

The relationship of six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates with a camera hasn’t been a very comfortable one. Even the co-founder of Mr. Olympia, Joe Weider, couldn’t make him follow basic etiquette in front of the camera. However, as a world-class bodybuilder, it was part and parcel for The Shadow to be the face of several magazine shoots. In his latest Instagram post, Yates shared a throwback picture from his last shoot for a magazine with one of his contemporaries.

This rare picture of Yates with the 1995 Arnold Classic winner, Mike Francois, was captured in 1997 after Yates won his sixth Mr. Olympia title. In the picture, Yates can be seen training his back, whereas Francois seemed to be pushing him to do better, sitting next to him. Find more details here.

The one from his last magazine shoot

Yates took a trip down memory lane and shared a few kind words for Francois in his caption. He wrote,  “Mike was another very strong bodybuilder and placed 7th at the 1995 Mr. Olympia and he also won the Arnold Classic and Night of Champions!” Even though he dreaded photoshoots, Yates is probably not one bit shy of having this jewel of a photograph as he captioned, “Here’s a shot with Mike Francois at Met-Rx Gym, Costa Mesa. This was taken after the 1997 Mr. Olympia and this shoot was actually one of the last I did for any magazines.”

Dorian Yates and Mike Francois had very similar tastes. The Beast from the East and The Shadow were known to have similar demeanors as they liked to detach themselves and work in the sack. Going heavy on reps, both of them appearing together in a throwback photo is enough to be the talk of the town even today. In fact, one of the fans recalled their old memories and expressed their respect for these two greats. Whereas one of the fans remembered the 1997 Mr. Olympia and thanked Dorian Yates for giving such wonderful moments to them. The fans wrote, 

“Took my dad to see you win it that year at the Terrace theater. Great memory. Cheers!”

“Epic! I remember it well. Two of my all time favorites.”

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“Great guy! Still trains a lot of people in Columbus”

“The best days of bodybuilding”

“Mike had mentioned how much this photo shoot meant to him, you were an idol to him”

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Looking at this iconic picture from 1997, what is the first thought that crossed your mind? Do you have any recollections from the 90s bodybuilding? If yes, let us know in the comments section.