Legendary Mr. Olympia winner Sergio “The Myth” Oliva passes away

If you mentioned “The Myth” in bodybuilding circles and you’re likely to get a reaction ranging from broad smiles to incredulous head shaking. Sergio Oliva earned every bit of his famous nickname by building a physique that nobody has ever seen before or since his three-year reign as Mr. Olympia. His tiny waist and bone structure defied the shapely mass he packed on every inch of his physique. He indeed deserved to be called 'The Myth'.

The former Cuban National weightlifting champ did not take long to become a bodybuilding champion. He surprised everybody when just four years after defecting to the United States from his homeland he had won the Mr. World and Mr. Universe titles and competed in the 1966 Mr. Olympia, taking fourth behind winner Larry Scott, Harold Poole and Chuck Sipes. But the Sergio that stood onstage at the ’66 Mr Olympia was only a preview of the bodybuilder he would become the following year when he won the 1967 Mr. Olympia.

So dominant was he during his Olympia reign that he defended his title uncontested in 1968. In 1969, however, he found himself in a titanic battle when a towering 22-year-old Austrian with an unpronounceable surname and confidence to spare stepped onto the stage. It was the last time Arnold Schwarzenegger would go down in defeat in a bodybuilding contest.

The second place result hurt Schwarzenegger so much that it gave the Austrian the drive and mental attitude to never lose again, which in fact he never did. The following year, at the 1970 Mr. Olympia, Schwarzenegger would in fact start his reign as one of the greatest bodybuilders when he defeated Sergio Oliva.