1972 Mr. Olympia - Winner Arnold Schwarzenegger

The 1972 Mr. Olympia was held at the Handelshof in Essen, Germany - following the tradition of the past year when it originally started to move outside of New York. The 1972 event had five contestants, including the defender of the title Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergio Oliva, Serge Nubret, Frank Zane and Franco Columbu.

After being disqualified the previous year, Sergio Oliva decided to return to the Mr. Olympia show in 1972 in Essen. He was hungry for a title, all while Schwarzenegger had become relaxed in the easy victories in most of the IFBB events at the time. When Sergio showed up in Essen, Germany, he was more defined than ever before and the 'freaky' proportions of his allowed him to shine from the very first appearance.

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However, things were looking well for Schwarzenegger too. Arnold was an icon in the sport and had dedicated himself to proper training, nutrition and supplementation. He was after all Weider's rising star - something that made a lot of people angry including Sergio Oliva.

While this was Franco Columbu's second official appearance, Serge Nubret and Frank Zane were first-timers. Their proportions were nice and they had well-defined bodies - but not to the extent of Arnold and Sergio's. So, it was clear that the battle will be between these two.

Arnold Schwarzenegger got the 1972 Mr. Olympia title, and stirred a lot of discussion. This was mostly because of the fact that both Oliva and Schwarzenegger had impressive performance on stage and that it is hard to choose a winner between two bodybuilders on that level. There have been a lot of articles regarding this rivalry in 1972 to date, but nonetheless it was Arnold who defended the Olympia title for the third time.

Schwarzenegger's dominance was more and more present as the 1973 Mr. Olympia date was approaching. It was only a matter of time until the clock ticks and the time comes for someone to challenge him on the scene.

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