Mr. Olympia 2018 Shawn Rhoden – Did He Deserve to Win?
Every year my son and I watch the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, we have been watching the show as long as it has been televised. We both love the sport of bodybuilding.
I grew up with watching many of the classic bodybuilders including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Frank Zane.
Later on, in 1992 Dorian Yates picked things up a notch and came in massive, winning that year Mr.Olympia.
Over the last few years, we have seen many changes, some of the old-timers like Dennis Wolf and Kai Green have had to step down. Dennis Wolf due to a back injury, Kai Green has made some career changes but competitors come and go.
This years 2018 Mr. Olympia Winners
- 1st place Shawn Rhoden
- 2nd Place Phil Heath
- 3rd Place Roelly Winklaar
This year many had their money on Phil Heath winning the Olympia, the truth is I don't personally believe that Phil Heath deserved to win in 2017 but he did.
My personal feeling for 2018 is that if Phil Heath did not come in ripped and well conditioned he would be risking his 8th consecutive win.
Many had their eye on Big Ramy, unfortunately, he just cannot seem to get his conditioning down, even after a day of posing he still looked a bit bloated, no doubt he had incredible size.
Ramy promised his fans last year that he would bring the title home in 2018 but he fell short.
Ramy has an awesome personality and shows close esteem to his fans as shown in this video where he apologizes to them for not bringing the win home.
Big Ramy shows the true spirit of sportsmanship.
Roelly Winklaar also looked incredible, his conditioning was much better than last year but still lacked in certain areas.
During the final judging Phil seemed to struggle with catching his breath and was sweating a lot, he was obviously still holding a lot of water. On the other hand, Shawn seemed to pose flawlessly and still had plenty of energy to spare.
The real question is.
Did Shawn Rhoden Deserve to Win Mr. Olympia 2018?
In all fairness yes, I believe he did. For the last 5 Olympias these guys have been getting bigger, more bloated and their midsection seems to be very overwhelming.
Last year the term bubblegut was very obvious in a few of the Olympia competitors.
I believe that this year Shawn Rhoden's win will set a new trend for future years of Mr. Olympia.
I believe in a sense Shawn Rhoden took a risk coming in a little lighter than the other competitors but the truth is, his physique was awesome. If there is one small detail that anyone could criticize it would be his lower back but I personally believe this is nothing more than genetics.
Shawn came in lean, his abs (midsection) looked incredible and in my opinion, he came in looking more like some of the old school bodybuilders with more size.
On the other hand, Phil Heath seems to have deteriorated more, he came in about the same as last year with less definition, there is no doubt his back and legs were impressive but his midsection is something that cannot be overlooked and was obviously something the judges did not like.
At the end of the day, there will always be people with different opinions including my own. But yes, I believe that Shawn Rhoden did deserve the Mr. Olympia win 2018.
