Here comes a long-winded post for sure.
Okay, so I took the top 10 at the Olympia and ranked them all 1-10 in each of the following categories: Condition (30% of total), Mass (30%), Shape (20%),
Symmetry (20%). Condition and Mass are the two highest weighted categories due to their paramount demand at the Olympia. The higher the ranking, the higher amount of points you get (for example 1st place for a category is awarded 10 points, 2nd gets 9, etc...). At the end of each description I'll add their
cumulative weighted score up to that point. Here's what I came up with, feel free to chime in your feelings.
Note: Pictures were examined from
prejudging Conditioning Looking for: Overall leaness, overal detail and striations (particularly in the back and glutes), vascularity, dryness, seperation. 1. Darrem - Shredded. The only place he lacks some crispness is his back but his incredible vascularity and detail more than makes up for it. (3 pts)
2. Ronnie - Despite missing some detail in his back db he was still incredibly lean with tight glutes, viens everywhere, and striations and maturity like no one else on stage. (2.7 pts)
3. Jay - Really, the only thing seperating he and Ronnie here is some slight glute tightness, very little lower back water, and muscle maturity. Incredibly close but Ronnie proves that some things, particularly muscle detail, gets better with age. (2.4 pts)
4. Branch - Tight everywhere and has a grainy look similar to dorian but someone lacks incredible seperation particularly in his back and arms. Super dry. (2.1 pts)
5. Gustavo - Always gets tighter as the show goes on and it was evident here as his glutes and lower back tightened up a lot between prejudging and the night show. (1.8 pts)
6. Gunter - Great condition but lacks detail in the hamstrings, arms, and intercostals in comparison to the top guys. (1.5 pts)
7. Vic - Quad seperation not as defined as anyone above him and despite good chest striations you can tell there's incredible detail below about five more pounds of fat/water that's eagerly waiting to pop out. (1.2 pts)
8. Melvin - Not nearly as tight in the glutes, which is always a trouble spot for him and his back was a bit watery as well. Despite this, his arms and back still show great detail in all side poses and and his quads are deeply seperated. (0.9 pts)
9. DJ - It's not that DJ was off, just everyone ahead of him was on and he still, for whatever reason, doesn't have the detail the guys aboved him showed. This holds true in areas like back, arms, and legs (from the front). His coloring also wasn't optimal and hurt his display. (0.6 pts)
10. Mustafa - Need I say more? (0.3 pts)
Mass Looking for: Mass without distention or oddly shaped body parts 1. Ronnie -
(5.7 pts)
2. Jay - This was a good size for Jay, but he can't expect to outmass the big nasty. (5.1 pts)
3. DJ - Massive and thick but
slightly lacks overall back and leg size when compared to Ronnie and Jay. His waistline also is taken into consideration and did not help him in this category. (3 pts)
4. Mustafa - His wide waist takes away from his overall illusion of being more massive than the others. Still, his quads more than make up for any other mass shortcomings such as his back or arms. (2.4 pts)
5. Vic - Not going to outmass the big guys but still sports incredibly wide shoulders and a very thick chest and back; this combination of thickness gave him the nod over Gunter. (3 pts)
6. Gunter - Down-sized this year and his legs, shoulders, and chest aren't as full as we've seen. Great shape, but sacrificed thickness; height certaintly helps him here because he is still fairly well filled out. (3 pts)
7. Branch - Incredibly thick but his shorter stature and smaller structure hurts him in this category. Yes, his chest and legs are both massive but the guys that placed ahead of him are all sporting great chests and thighs with thick backs and huge arms to go with them; still very close and hard to judge. (3.3 pts)
8. Gustavo - Not small by any means, he just isn't quite as massive as the guys that placed ahead of him. (2.7 pts)
9. Melvin (1.5 pts)
10. Darrem (3.3 pts)
Shape Looking for: Actual shape of muscles, great tie-ins, flowing lines 1. Melvin - Not a standout bodypart on him; everything ties together nicely. Good shape of legs, especially his hamstrings, as well as arms, chest, and back. Everything flows well. (3.5 pts)
2. Darrem - Muscle by muscle he has great shape but they don't quite tie in as well as Melvins. Still, great bis, tris, abs, and delts. (5.1 pts)
3. Vic - Only lagging bodypart would be calves, which could stand to be a bit larger. Vic's gotten a little thicker around the midsection which is the only reason he wasn't higher but other than that he has incredible shape to his physique; just doesn't have the impossibly tiny joints like Darrem and Melvin (4.6 pts)
4. Gustavo - Good shape but doesn't have the shoulder to waist ratio like the guys ahead of him do. He's also not quite as full, either. (4.1 pts)
5. Ronnie - I know Cutler fans are screaming BS at this one but look at his bodyparts. He has the best chest, biceps, glutes, and back in the sport which more than make up for his shortcomings. On top of this, he paid attention to "the mandate" and brought his waistline down considerably despite not having the best ab shape. (6.9 pts)
6. Jay - His legs were unseen and his back has definately been brought up to become one of the best but his flat chest and very thick midsection (even when not exhaling) definately brought him down a notch in this category. (6.1 pts)
7. Gunter - Looks like an golden era bodybuilder which is both a good and bad thing. He has good, not great, lines and looks athletic but because of his frame (ie. his wide hips) he needs more mass across the top to look better. He also didn't come in as full, which hurt him. (3.8 pts)
8. Branch - Still needs a back and a little tricep mass to match the rest of him but his legs are on par with Jay's as being the best out there and his chest, abs, and shoulders are also standouts. (3.9 pts)
9. Mustafa - Doesn't do himself justice in the mandatories and appears to have too long a torso. His arms (triceps) and back also have to improve in order to move up. (2.8 pts)
10. DJ - Besides the fact that he was rude to our members (which I didn't
really count), his waistline was bad and his quads from the front don't match his massive chest and shoulder combination. He also has high lats that appear to make his torso longer than it is. (3.2 pts)
Symmetry Looking for: Balance from side-to-side and top-to-bottom. Very tough category to judge. Looking more for flaws than anything else 1. Melvin -
(5.5 pts)
2. Darrem - Really a coinflip between him and Melvin, just needs slightly more leg size to be in balance with his upper body. (6.9 pts)
3. Gustavo - Looks even overall, despite holding his left arm higher in the front relaxed pose for some reason. (5.7 pts)
4. Gunter - Gained symmetry by sacrificing size. (5.2 pts)
5. Vic - The only flaw I spot is that his quads look different and some were commenting he might have in fact injured his right quad. If so, it's hardly noticable. (5.8 pts)
6. Jay - Flaws include legs and arms that appear the different in size but his body is very much in-sync with itself from front to back and side to side. (7.1 pts)
7. Ronnie - Really a toss-up between he and Jay because Ronnie also has one or two symmetrical flaws such as a difference between his left and right lat and his triceps. (7.7 pts)
8. Branch - Legs, particularly his calves, overpower the upper body and his back is not up to par with the rest of him either. Looks good left to right though. (4.5 pts)
9. Mustafa - His upper body looks good side to side and front to back but his torso appears long in comparison to his legs which also overpower his entire upper body in every pose. (3.2 pts)
10. DJ - Besides his midsection, his legs don't come close to matching his massive upper body, which is a bigger crime than having an upper body that doesn't match massive legs. (3.4 pts)
OVERALL 1. Ronnie Coleman (7.7)
2. Jay Cutler (7.1)
3. Darrem (6.9)
4. Vic (5.8)
5. Gustavo (5.7)
6. Melvin (5.5)
7. Gunter (5.2)
8. Branch (4.5)
9. DJ (3.4)
10. Mustafa (3.2)
I'm somewhat suprised by the results. The difference here is that the IFBB definately weighs mass in more than anything else and I think if we switched my percentage breakdown to something like 40% for Mass and only 10% for Symmetry it'd be pretty close to the overall Olympia placings. Still, I did have four of the ten athletes in the same place in comparison to the actual judging. I just think this was an interesting study to compare the top ten athletes in each individual category and rank them as the IFBB judges are supposed to; the difference of course is I tell you exactly how I'm weighting each category and the judges just sort of do their own thing without explination.
Please don't get on my ass over the results if you disagree because I'm sure a lot of you will. I'm not saying this is the way the Olympia placings should have gone or the way these athletes should be ranked or even the way I like their physiques; it just came out the way it did.
