“Don’t Know if I’ll Be Able to Walk”: Despite Spending $2 Million, Bodybuilding Legend Ronnie Coleman Was Scared for His Life After Surgery Failures in 2018

Modern-day bodybuilding was blessed by the presence of the legendary bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman. Establishing sheer dominance as a bodybuilder, Ronnie won Mr. Olympia eight times consecutively. He jointly holds the record for the maximum number of Mr. Olympia titles, along with Lee Haney.

Ronnie Coleman rose to greatness climbing up the ladder after a series of shortcomings. Throughout his career, Ronnie suffered from various injuries. However, he found a way to bounce back from them. He had major spine as well as hip injuries, which required long procedural surgeries. 

Ronnie Coleman undergoes multiple surgeries

Bodybuilding is not an easy sport. It pushes the body to extreme levels. In the process, sometimes a bodybuilder’s progress is slowed down by an injury that might be so severe that it can leave them bedridden for life. 

Ronnie has struggled with severe back as well as spine issues throughout his bodybuilding career. He underwent multiple surgeries to continue his career. In 2018, he got an operation on his back for the tenth time to fix four broken screws.

The 8-time Mr. Olympia winner was not sure whether he would be able to walk again. After the surgery, he could only move in a wheelchair. Revealing his current condition, he said, “I don’t know if that’ll [Walk] ever happen because I’ve had too much damage done to my body from all these surgeries.” Multiple surgeries had changed the structure of his body as well. He revealed that he had spent close to $2 million on the last three surgeries.

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The bodybuilding legend was scared for his life after surgery failure. Shedding some light on that, he said, “All these surgeries a lot of it has to do with the way the surgeon performed the surgery and the surgeon that I’ve had the last three surgeries been really bad and caused a lot of damage to my body, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to walk….” He believed that if the surgeon had performed the surgeries properly, then would be walking a long time ago.

Coleman’s Mr. Olympia 2001 victory

Coleman was in impeccable form ever since winning the Mr. Olympia title in 1998. By 2001, with three titles under his belt, he was all set to win his fourth one. But an incident during the 2001 edition of Mr. Olympia made him change his mind. A sense of realization came to him, and Ronnie decided that he did not want to feel the same again. It was concerned with the usage of diuretics.

Bodybuilders often use diuretics to enhance their overall performance. Competitors used dehydration techniques as it improves their muscularity and makes them look more vascular. Recalling the morning he woke up on the day of the event, he said, “I woke up the morning of the Olympia and I felt awful.”

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Coleman wanted his health to be his utmost priority while competing. It is safe to say that The King’s supremacy in bodybuilding was unmatched.