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| Biography |
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CAREER TITLES
1965 Mr. Europe - Junior (Germany)
1966 Best Built Man of Europe (Germany)
1966 Mr. Europe (Germany)
1966 International Power lifting Championship (Germany)
1967 NABBA Mr. Universe - Amateur (England)
1968 NABBA Mr. Universe - Professional (England)
1968 German Power lifting Championship (Germany)
1968 IFBB Mr. International (Mexico)
1969 IFBB Mr. Universe - Amateur (USA)
1969 NABBA Mr. Universe - Professional (England)
1970 NABBA Mr. Universe - Professional (England)
1970 Mr. World (USA)
1970 IFBB Mr. Olympia (USA)
1971 IFBB Mr. Olympia (France)
1972 IFBB Mr. Olympia (Germany)
1973 IFBB Mr. Olympia (USA)
1974 IFBB Mr. Olympia (USA)
1975 IFBB Mr. Olympia (South Africa)
1980 IFBB Mr. Olympia (Australia)
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"I want to be the best-built man in the world!">
Hearing this from their 13-year-old son, Gustav and
Aurelia Schwarzenegger just sighed and shook their heads.
They'd always had their suspicions, but now those
suspicions had been confirmed. They started to look for
"psychiatrist" in the Graz Yellow Pages.
But Arnold was serious. At 14, he started an intensive
training program with Kurt Marnul, the former Mr. Austria.
At 15,
he studied psychology with Dr. Karl Gerstl to learn
more about the power of mind over body. At 17, he
officially started
his competitive career. And at 18, he
got thrown in jail.
OK, so getting arrested wasn't exactly part of the
original plan, but in many ways it couldn't be avoided.
Here's what happened: As a good citizen of Austria, Arnold
was required by law to serve a year in the army. Fine, he
started serving. He was assigned to be a tank driver.
Fine, he started tanking. He was forbidden to leave the
base to compete in any stupid bodybuilding competitions.
Fine, he wouldn't leave the base for a competition in any
stupid bodybuilding competitions. But, hey, they didn't
say anything about smart bodybuilding competitions, did
they? So one day, he slipped out of camp, hopped a train
to Stuttgart, and - quite smartly - won a trophy.
When his commanding officers found out, they went
ballistic. Before he could say two words in his defense,
they threw him behind bars. His sentence: seven long days
in the big house. But a funny thing happened during that
week. The same officers that put him in there started
looking at the trophy he won. It wasn't just a little one.
It wasn't just a big one.
It was the biggest one in all of
Europe. Arnold had won Mr. Europe Junior!
So naturally, after the hardened criminal had served out
his time, he was ceremoniously stripped of his tank
driving duties. For his "punishment", he was re-assigned
to be an official -- well, um -- bodybuilder. Surprised,
Arnold tried his best to look sad, and proceeded to spend
the rest of his military career training for competition.
After he left the army, it seemed like nothing could stop
him. In 1966, he stepped up from the junior division and
started competing in the big leagues. Too soon? Think
again. That same year, he won The Best Built Man in
Europe, Mr. Europe, and the International Power lifting
Championship. Not bad, for a 19-year-old.
Then, figuring he was on a roll, he flew to London to
compete in the Mr. Universe competition. This was it for
Arnold. Forget Mr. Europe. Forget Mr. America. This was
Mr. Universe! If he could win this title, he'd definitely
be the best-built man on Earth. (And on Mars, Venus, and
Pluto, for that matter.)
Upon his arrival, he was mobbed by other bodybuilders and
fans from around the world. They had all been reading
about the young Austrian Oak. It was a heady experience.
It was the first time he realized that he was becoming
internationally famous. And now, here he was at the Mr.
Universe contest. He was pumped. He was ready.
He was slammed. By an American named Chet Yorton, who not
only had muscles and moves, he also had definition. More
than just a mountain of meat, he had chiseled his body
into a work of art.
So, the next year, Arnold worked like a sculptor.
Analyzing every part of his massive frame, he invented new
exercises to separate and define the muscle groups. Then,
in 1967, he flew to London to compete in the Mr. Universe
contest for the second time. With his new, incredibly buff
and polished body, he knew he could beat Yorton.
But wouldn't you know it? Now there was a new contender on
the scene. Dennis Tinnerino, who had just won the Mr.
America competition, was in town. Everybody -- even
Arnold's closest friends -- thought that Tinnerino had him
beat.
But Schwarzenegger thought otherwise. The morning of
the competition, Tinnerino casually asked him how he felt.
In response, the young Terminator leaned forward, locked
him with his eyes, and smiled that patented crocodile
smile. "Fantastic!" he whispered, "It's the kind of day
when you know you're going to win." (Was that a gulp,
Dennie?)
That was the day when Arnold learned that you had to have
more than just a massive frame and totally tweaked muscles
to win. You also had to have the strongest will. Because
even though Tinnerino pulled off an incredible performance
and had a magnificent body, Schwarzenegger blew him right
off the stage. At just 20 years old, he was the youngest
Mr. Universe in history. Arnold had accomplished his
dream.
Or so he thought. Soon, he learned that there were
actually three Mr. Universes. Arnold had won the National
Amateur Bodybuilding Association title in the amateur
division. But there was also a professional division. To
complicate matters further, the International Federation
of Bodybuilding had a Mr. Universe competition of their
own. He also discovered that there was a Mr. World title
and a Mr. Olympia title. If he really wanted to be the
best-built man in the world, he would be him!
Most other men would have packed it in. But Arnold just
packed his bags and flew back to Munich to train some
more. It was an incredibly intense period of his life.
Besides putting in four to six hours a day in weight
training, he was also going to business school, managing
his health club, and trying to remember what the word
"sleep" meant.
But the hard work paid off. In 1968, he flew back to
London and easily won the other Mr. Universe trophy. Now
he had both the NABBA Mr. Universe Amateur and
Professional titles. He also won the German Power lifting
Championship and the IFBB Mr. International in Mexico. But
he still needed the Mr. Olympia title.
So, at 21, he moved to California to train with some of
the best bodybuilders in the world. He was 6 feet 2 inches
tall, 250 pounds, and had bigger measurements than anyone
else in the business. He'd studied with a dancer and now
moved like a big jungle cat. He'd taken charge of his
music and lighting and had a posing performance that was
second to none. He was pumped, he was chiseled, he was
bronzed from the sun. He looked like Michelangelo's David
with a tan. (Well, not exactly like David. Arnold always
wore posing trunks.)
Over the next two years, he flew all over the world,
winning new titles and defending the ones he already held.
In 1969, he won the IFBB Mr. Universe - Amateur in New
York and the NABBA Mr. Universe - Professional in London.
In 1970, he again won the NABBA Mr. Universe -
Professional in London and the Mr. World in Columbus,
Ohio. At the end of the year, he had every title except
Mr. Olympia. And Sergio Oliva had been winning and
successfully defending that title since 1967.
So now, it was down to two people. Everybody in
bodybuilding knew it. And it all came down to one event --
the 1970 Mr. Olympia competition in New York. Arnold had
prepared for this moment all his life. He was ready and he
knew it. He didn't even bother to pump up like Sergio. He
just focused himself. And with just two minutes left
before he had to go on stage, he changed and oiled up.
The atmosphere was so supercharged that the police had to
keep fans from rushing the stage. There definitely were
two camps in the audience -- each chanting the name of
their favorite. But in the end, there was only one winner,
one trophy, and one name: Schwarzenegger.
And so, in 1970, at the age of 23, he had achieved what
he'd set out to accomplish just 10 years earlier. He was,
by any and every measure, the best-built man in the world.
And he would continue to hold that crown for many years to
come. He won an unprecedented seven Mr. Olympia titles
before he retired. And the only reason he retired was that
he had begun acting in motion pictures and now he had a
new goal -- to be the most popular film star in the
world.
Hearing this, his parents just sighed and started flipping
through the Yellow Pages again.
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The above images were either submitted to us by our
visitors or found on free sites and considered to be
copyright free.
If you hold a copyright on one or more of these images,
please contact us and we will remove them as soon as
possible. |
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