“He Couldn’t Look Me in the Eye”: Bodybuilding Veteran “Scared” a “Frantic, Hysterical” Arnold Schwarzenegger at 1980 Mr. Olympia

The feud between the legendary bodybuilders, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mike Mentzer, is known to every bodybuilding enthusiast. The two first went at loggerheads during the competitors’ meeting of the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest. It was the time when Arnold surprised everyone by making an unexpected comeback in the contest.

Earlier in 1975, Arnold had announced his retirement from Mr. Olympia but returned in 1980.

The infamous feud of Mike Mentzer and Arnold Schwarzenegger

In one of his interviews in 1993, Mike Mentzer described the situation that led to the rift between the two. A discussion started when Arnold arrived at the meeting and insisted on having two weight classes. For the unversed, Mr. Olympia was conducted in two weight classes – over 200lbs and under 200lbs – between 1974-1979. However, unknown to Arnold, the participants had signed a petition for the abolition of the class system.

During the discussion, Arnold’s condescending tone towards Boyer Coe did not go unnoticed by Mentzer. Hence, he interrupted Arnold and called him out on it. Arnold then directed his anger towards Mentzer and bit back by making personal remarks. This added fuel to the fire within Mentzer and led to him losing his control.

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Narrating what happened next, he said, “I allowed that to irritate me perhaps too much. And, on impulse, I ran over towards him. I was surprised. Arnold Schwarzenegger sat down! I scared him! He went over and sat in the corner.”

“And as I… when he went to sit down, I continued at him. I was wagging my finger at him, telling him that his behavior was reprehensible; that was not Boyer Coe who needed to grow up but him. And he couldn’t look me in the eye. He went from being a frantic, hysterical adolescent, to shrinking away like an injured child,” Mentzer continued.

Mike and his distaste for the corrupt

Mike Mentzer is regarded as the most enigmatic figure in the bodybuilding world. Mentzer was the first one to get the perfect scores in an elite contest in the history of competitions. It happened during 1978 Mr. Universe. Mentzer was considered a bodybuilding genius. He gave a market-mass appeal to Arthur Jones’ high-intensity training.

However, he was always displeased with the corruption that he claimed existed in the bodybuilding contests. After 1980, he has gone on record saying that Arnold Schwarzenegger to say that the Arnold wasn’t a worthy winner. He said that during that competition that I.F.B.B. let Arnold run wild as it was filled with his friends. He further added that no one other than the judges (who he claims were Arnold’s friends) saw Arnold as the winner.

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The corruption was one of the reasons why Mentzer decided to take early retirement from the competition. Mike left the world on June 10, 2001.