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For a good number of years now, Kerry Kayes has been risking his money and his mental health to bring an IFBB GP Show to the UK every autumn, immediately after each year’s Mr. Olympia. Last year they were slow to fix a date for the Olympia Show and following some friction between Kerry and show organisers, he did not commit himself to a show for 2006. He may have been wise as many Pro Shows have been on and off several times. There was a GP Show in Spain immediately before the Olympia, which was won by Paco Bautista — providing him with a last minute qualification — but reports suggest that judging was very biased towards Spanish competitors.
The IFBB European Grand Tour followed immediately after the Mr Olympia and was a whirlwind affair via Austria, Romania and Holland on consecutive days in early October. If the current Mr.Olympia takes part in these tours it is normally expected that he will win but in this case both 2006 Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, and 8 times winner Ronnie Coleman were doing the tour. From on-line photos of the Olympia, there did not seem to be much between the two so perhaps Ronnie could put one or two over on Jay during this tour.
Graz 6th October
As would be expected after the long flight from the USA many of the competitors who had been in the Olympia were holding water and not much could be done about that — they are tested for diuretics. At the first weigh-in Jay Cutler was just under 270 lbs [19st 4lb] and Ronnie was 295 lbs [21st 1lb] With news of both the top men in the world competing, Promoter Daniel Holtz said that sales of tickets during the last week had been “overwhelmingly phenomenal”. Has he got George Bush’s speech writer as language guide? This show was another win for Jay Cutler, who was dryer than Ronnie and was more ripped as a result and it seemed that most of the audience agreed — although there was still lots of support for the old master. Dennis James and Marcus Ruhl fought for the 3rd place spot and both displayed their number one weaknesses — neither seems to be able to get truly ripped. The judges gave the nod to Marcus Ruhl and thus he qualified for Olympia 2007. Ronnie Rockel confirmed his stature as a pro bodybuilder by coming 5th just pipping Britain’s Eddie Abbew. Eddie had managed to get the best condition at the show and with more size and shape in the legs he will climb higher. Alex Fedorov was disappointing [soft] and Lee Powell was in terrific shape and but not big enough to push into the top six.
Timisoara 7th October
A rush across Eastern Europe brought the circus to this Romanian city of 300,000 people. This very western style city is only 40 miles from the Hungarian border. It is a cosmopolitan place with a long history and some striking architecture — like parts of Bavaria. Eastern Europe is a hotbed of bodybuilding and they have produced some great physiques. As would be expected the audience and the number of competitors was less than normal but it gave the Romanians a taste of top level bodybuilding. Jay was still hard enough to beat Ronnie yet again but Russian Sergey Shelestov in his first year as a pro was a sensational 3rd and qualified for Olympia 2007. He beat out Eddie Abbew — again just missing the Olympia invite — and impressive and shapely Italian Danielle Seccarecci. Thomas Bengali was disappointing in 7th, just ahead of Rickie Welling.
Amsterdam 8th October
So it was another very early start for all the competitors and officials on Sunday morning to make the 1,000 mile journey to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a lovely city with so many qualities that lift it above the famous coffee house and the sleazy porno industry. It has some great bars and restaurants — and, of course, the very friendly and English speaking Dutch people. Here Jay Cutler made it three in a row although from those who were there it does seem that Ronnie had a rather rough deal on this one. Nevertheless, the difference between the two could never be great. Ronnie has a massive physique which maybe he will have to tighten up and shrink a bit to satisfy today’s judges. Ronnie Rockel booked himself into the 2007 Mr.O with his 3rd place ahead of Hidetada Yamagishi and Eddie Abbew. Eddie after three appearances still fails to qualify for the Olympia and will have to try again during next year. Lee Powell was 6th with Trevor Crouch 10th.
And then the circus packed up and everyone went home leaving just memories of some great bodies. Hopefully they will be back next year and hopefully again, we will have a British GP. And Troy Brown can go head to head with Harold “Big H” Marillier.
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