Olympia Win, Take 7

Following a Seventh Mr. Olympia Victory— Tying Him With the “goat,” Arnold Schwarzenegger— Phil Heath Put His Win in Historical Perspective as Only He Can.

- Joe Wuebben

THE CHAMPION SPEAKS YET AGAIN. We’re very familiar with him: the now seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath. Only this time he doesn’t have quite as much to say. With a reputation over the years as one of the great trash-talking bodybuilders of all time, Heath was relatively quiet heading into the 2017 Olympia. Then, of course, his physique spoke loud and clear on Sept. 16 with another commanding victory, his seventh in a row. Four days later, he gave the following exclusive interview to FLEX, and he had a fair amount to say—reminiscent of the man he’d just tied for Mr. Olympia titles, Arnold Schwarzenegger. If Heath is true to his word, which he always is, we’ll be back here one year from now with even more to talk about.

FLEX: I’m sounding like a broken record because I ask you the same question every year, but…how did the 2017 Olympia differ from 2016? Your placing was the same, of course.

PHIL HEATH: The callouts were different, obviously. There’s really no dominant second-place person; that’s something I noticed this year. Like when you had Ronnie [Coleman] and Jay [Cutler], it was always those two guys, and then everybody else. With me, it’s essentially been a different guy every year. With that, the fans are able to get different looks, same with the judges. There’s always someone new in second place, and there’s always someone disappointed. I’m sure Shawn Rhoden was disappointed about dropping from second to fifth.

Speaking of that, we had a Phil Heath–Kai Greene rivalry, and then we had a Heath–Rhoden rivalry, and even before that we had a Heath–Cutler rivalry. So what do we have now? A Heath–Big Ramy rivalry?