Courtney King And Her Crown

What Is Life Like After Winning the Bikini Olympia? Courtney King Opens Up About Her Success.

- Mike Carlson

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IFBB Bikini Pro Courtney King at her very first Mr. Olympia in 2013 and place it next to a photo of King’s championship performance at the 2016 Mr. Olympia. There’s plenty of similarities: the long gorgeous waves of brown hair, the irrepressible joie de vivre in her smile, the legs that seem to go on forever. There’s differences, too. In 2016, she has caps on her shoulders that weren’t there in 2013. Her midsection is tighter and more defined, her lower body better conditioned. When King looks at the pictures, though, she doesn’t see a physical transformation so much as a mental one.

“I went to the Olympia my first year and I was 19 years old. I had only turned pro six months before my first pro show; I was a baby in the industry. There was a lot of finally figuring out my body and knowing what works and what doesn’t,” she says. “I train a lot differently now. I went through a lot of hardship in 2014, so I can relate to a lot of the fears that men and women have—not feeling they are good enough, binge eating, metabolic damage, body dysmorphia. But it led me to coming back stronger in 2015 and 2016. So there is a good difference, mentally and physically, in those pictures.”

Now just 23, some would still consider King a “baby in the industry.” But just because a person is young doesn’t mean they haven’t traveled far. King has ascended to the pinnacle of the sport and has learned some important lessons on her journey to the top.

Mike Carlson: How has life changed since winning the 2016 Bikini Olympia?