COLEMAN ANNOUNCES HIS LAST OLYMPIA APPEARANCE

Less than three weeks before the Mr. Olympia contest on September 28, Ronnie Coleman confirmed one of bodybuilding’s most-asked questions during an appearance on Pro Bodybuilding Weekly on Monday night: this will, in fact, be the last time we see the eight-time Mr. O on the sport’s biggest stage.

“If I were to win or lose this show, you’ll probably never – you’ll never see me on the Olympia stage again,” Coleman said.

Coleman, however, stopped short of saying he was retiring from the sport entirely. “I like a lot of the European stuff, so maybe the European stuff or the Arnold Classic if I can get my nerves up for that,” Coleman said of where he would compete next, if not at the Olympia. “But definitely, I would like to do the European Stuff if they can have it any more over there, because the tour has already been cancelled for this year.”

When pressed by hosts Dan Solomon and Bob Cicherillo on why he would become the first Olympia winner to lose the O, then go on to compete in other competitions, Coleman answered, “The Olympia is no small task, that’s a big task. There’s a lot of pressure going into it, a lot of work you gotta put your body through and stuff. Just the Olympia atmosphere itself is so, so big. And I’ve done that for so many years now. It comes to a point where you have to move on and do some other things.”

Well, when hearing this, we just had to get current Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler’s take on Coleman’s comments. Not surprisingly, Cutler said Coleman’s comments didn’t change much in his mind.

“It’s not a surprise,” Cutler said. “It doesn’t really change anything for me. My confidence is at its all-time high anyway and I’m just going to keep doing what I do. Who’s to say this couldn’t be my last year? You just never know. You train for today, you don’t train for tomorrow. There is no tomorrow in bodybuilding contests.

“He leaves it open to compete in other competitions but with him losing the title last year it probably makes lot of sense. He’s pushing the time clock to get his body ready to win the Olympia and I think he realizes it’s going be difficult to do that.”


source: flex

Wow! I guess everyone could say that they saw Coleman retiring from Mr. Olympia someday. I just thought it would a sometime in the near future. Regardless of his decision he'll still be one of the sport's most prolific athletes.