Gymrat’s Weblog

Jay Cutler quote after the historic victory:

- They said the champ can’t be taken out. Well you know what? The new champ’s in town. And the Sandow is staying in Las Vegas. And I get to keep my hair. (Jay had promised to shave of his hair if he didn’t win.)

• FLEX Magazine has blogged the Olympia Weekend fbesides their regular updates on FLEXOnline.com.
• Bodybuilding.com has 450 photos from the finals online and a blog.
• The German site BBSszene.de has 333 photos from the finals online.
• GraphicMuscle.com has good coverage from the Olympia Weekend.
• MuscleTime.com promises updates online on Monday.
• Ronnie.cz has made a cool application, where you can compare all Mr. Olympia contestants with each other, pose for pose (based on photos from the prejudging):

Results 2006 Mr Olympia
September 30, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The European Youth Championships 2006 was held in Landskrona, Sweden, July 23-30. Eleiko Worldwide Weightlifting News in cooperation with the International Weightlifting Agency Berlin, has provided daily reports and pictures:

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 1

“The “Landskrona Idrottshall” is now summoning to the 16th European Youth Championships for young men and to the 13th for the young ladies. Since the age limit was changed in 2003 in Dortmund from 16 to 17, this is the fourth tournament of the “new era”.”

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 2

“The performances that were crowned with European Youth records were outstanding: Matveeva clean & jerked 71 kg, Buci snatched 113 kg and achieved 254 kg overall − in clean & jerk he was just one kilo below his European Youth record from the Junior World Championships in Hangzhou. De la Puente snatched 76 kg.”

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 3

“Pure commition in the 62 kg competition. “One of the Cypriots will win…”. All warning lights were on amongst the busy organisers. No flag and no national anthem − they weren’t in the Cypriot lifters’ luggage. They were in a quandary. The flag of Cyprus was procured from somewhere and the anthem downloaded from the internet…”

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 4

“These are the first European Youth Championships in weightlifting for which its very own pop hit was composed. It is called “Heavyweight Champion” and was composed and written by Kenta Edvardsen from Skara. He was inspired by Magnus Kjellgren who handles the very good competition website here in Landskrona.”

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 5

“The key word ELEIKO electrifies in weightlifting circles. No wonder because the Swedish world-renowned products are in demand in more than 150 countries. Apart from this, the company for barbells and accessories was created out of a small factory that manufactured electrical items.”

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 6

“People in Landskrona were interested in finding out the “secret” of the German upswing over the last years. A reason for such a success is certainly the excellent team of coaches where the successful lifter from Munich Manfred Nerlinger and his colleague from Görlitz Thomas Faselt are also integration figures for the others. This also has an effect on the team’s good spirits.”

European Youth Championships 2006 - Report 7

“The “heavy day” to close the European Youth Championships was quite something. In the penultimate competition for young men up to 94 kg, 14 lifters crowded onto the platform for the presentation.”

Omar Deckard wins USA Overall; Mike Ergas takes second pro card. Heather Policky takes the female pro bodybuilding card, and Simone Douglas the pro figure card.

FLEXOnline.com reports that Omar Deckard wins the 2006 NPC USA overall (scroll down to bottom of report for FLEX traditional full prejudging galleries).

Photographer Bill Comstock, Graphic Muscle, has posted photos from USA Bodybuilding & Figure Championships. He writes that this year saw the toughest competitions yet:

“I’m back from Vegas and what a great show it was at the USA this year. In the lightheavyweight and heavyweight classes alone, there were roughly 30 competitors in each class. This was absolutely the most competitive and toughest classes at this level I have ever shot. I’ve posted complete coverage of the “elimination rounds” for each of these classes during prejudging which then cut the classes down to the top 15. You will get to see every competitor in these classes pose during these rounds.”

Iron Man Magazines Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman has video and audio reports online from 2006 USA Bodybuilding & Figure Championships.

Hard Fitness Online Magazine now has over 1000 photos from 2006 NPC USA’s Figure and Female Bodybuilding Championships!

GeneX Online Magazine reports that Heather Policky (her blog) joins the pro bodybuilding ranks. Heather indicated that her first pro show would be IFBB Europa Pro Super Show, 25-26 August, Dallas, Texas. Simone Douglas in joins the pro figure circuit. Results and pictures from GeneX, and HardFitness USA’s Figure and Women’s Bodybuilding Photos and Results are posted on Muscle Mayhem. FitSights promises to update his blog posting from the USAs regularly.

The website for American Strongman Association has frequent updates pertaining to the American competition scene (within its own federation). This weekends quest was for the title of ‘Americas Strongest Man’:

“The fourth and final event that would crown America’s Strongest Man 2006 were the famous William’s Strength Atlas Stones. This event came down to a very tight race by all athletes. The top four placings in this event was Travis Ortmayer, Marshall White, and Steve MacDonald.

The 2006 America’s Strongest Man is Steve MacDonald! The top six athletes of 2006 are Steve MacDonald, Jon Andersen, Travis Ortmayer, Kevin Nee, Derek Poundstone, and Nick Best.”

A forum thread about the competition with even more information is avaliable at Strength Discussion, which has the subtitle “Bringing the world of strength sports to the bored and lazy for 5 years”…