After winning the Mr. Olympia seven times, Arnold Schwarzenegger was just getting started. His career always took off from one discipline to the other, where the star achieved success in almost everything he laid his eyes on. Yet failures were always around the corner, and the star never dismissed them.
In a conversation on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast, Schwarzenegger recalled the monumental time in history when he lost his first-ever Olympia. At 22, the Austrian Oak witnessed one of the best bodybuilders of that era.
In 1969, Sergio Oliva, one of the legendary bodybuilding icons, won the Mr. Olympia championship, while Schwarzenegger stood second in the same category. While this would’ve been a failure in the eyes of many, the star saw it as an opportunity to bounce back better.
“It was another obstacle I remember in the Mr. Olympia competition; there was Sergio Oliva, who was an extraordinary Cuban kind of bodybuilding champion that now lived in Chicago, and he was unbelievable.”
Describing his champion mentality, Schwarzenegger revealed how his end goal was always to win, no matter what. Hurdles along the way were a part of the journey. Since his first loss at the Mr. Universe championship against veteran Frank Zane, the bodybuilder then recounted his other defeats in various fields. However, the failures taught him more about the world and its workings than anything else.
“The fact is, we learn, you know, sometimes even more from the failures than we do from the successes. And so you have to be very honest when you fail, you have to be very very honest, and you have to say, you know, I f****ed up, here’s what I did wrong.”
Schwarzenegger may not have immediately jumped on the success train, but when he did so, he won the hearts of the audience and his fellows. After his loss against Frank Zane, Arnie didn’t lose hope or keep up the grudges. Instead, he extended an olive branch and sought guidance from the winning champion to learn more.
Across various competitors and onstage rivals, Schwarzenegger shared a special bond with many of his fellow bodybuilders. While the movie Pumping Iron projected a fictional side complete with rivals, grudges, and revenge, the reality was quite mellow.
Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a special bond with Frank Zane
After losing to him at the 1968 Mr. Universe Miami championship, Schwarzenegger didn’t give up. He immediately invited Zane to a gym training session to understand how a winner trains. And the veteran obliged.
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Zane was the king of aesthetics in the bodybuilding world. Armed with perfect symmetry and crisp definition, yet not too jarringly huge and muscular, the icon had nailed the formula of a winning physique. And that’s what intrigued Schwarzenegger. The duo eventually became good friends, and Zane, being a mathematics professor, even obliged to help Arnie with his degree preparation. A story full of camaraderie and playful competition, bodybuilding saw the peak of sportsmanship with these icons.
