1975 Mr. Olympia - Winner Arnold Schwarzenegger

The 1975 Mr. Olympia was the 11th edition of the IFBB professional bodybuilding competition which was held between November 4th and November 11th, 1975 in Pretoria, South Africa. Far away from New York, the 11th Mr. Olympia took was rather symbolic and a predecessor to the 1975 IFBB International Congress.

It is also important to note that the entire event was filmed for the 1977 docudrama "Pumping Iron" which featured the big rivalry between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno as they were training for the contest. While Arnold had a five-year winning streak at the Mr. Olympia events that time Lou Ferrigno was hoping for his first win, and was definitely closer to it.

Related - The Complete History of Bodybuilding

Similar to the categorization of the previous year, the 1975 Mr. Olympia edition had two categories - one of which the 'Over 200lbs' and another one 'Under 200lbs' used to classify the competitors in different weight classes.

The fact that there was one winner, though, didn't change many things. However, at the time both Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno were training hard - and Schwarzenegger's announcement that it was his last competition steamed up things even a lot. Ferrigno wanted to beat Schwarzenegger on the contest, and the 1975 Mr. Olympia was his best chance.

The winner was once again Arnold Schwarzenegger. Despite the fact that the battle was tough this time (and according to many very controversial), Arnold had earned the glory with his previous years and was once again seen as the best bodybuilder physique in the world at the time. As soon as he got the title, Schwarzenegger proudly thanked everyone and left the scene again announcing his retirement from the Olympia contest.

The docudrama "Pumping Iron" aimed at promoting the rivalry between the two athletes - and was released only two years after the contest. However, it made both Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger famous among the crowd and specifically contributed to Schwarzenegger's success as an actor, pushing him even further on the Hollywood scene.

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