1976 Mr. Olympia - Winner Franco Columbu

Columbus, Ohio was the city that the organizers picked for the 1976 Mr. Olympia - to be held at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The total prize money awarded was $5,000, something that was increasing year after year. However, money was not attracting bodybuilders at the time as much as fame and success were, especially following the case of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his early steps in Hollywood.

The 1976 Mr. Olympia once again followed the classification in two groups: 'Over 200lbs' and 'Under 200lbs' as the two previous years. This year, there were no Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger in the 'Over 200lbs' group as their names were replaced by Ken Waller and Mike Katz, both new bodybuilder names for the crowd.

Related - The Complete History of Bodybuilding

However, the 'Under 200lbs' class included famous names like Franco Columbu and Frank Zane among the participants (including Ed Corney, Bill Grant and Boyer Coe in the full list). The overall winner of the contest was the Italian Franco Columbu, who was competing at the Olympia almost every year and took the 1976 Mr. Olympia title in style.

Columbu was the overall winner after beating Ken Waller in the 'Over 200lbs' class, getting the all-time high cash reward of $5,000 and getting extra publicity for his win. The Mr. Olympia contest was getting known more and more at the time.

As a long time friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Columbu followed his steps to winning the 1976 Mr. Olympia title and proudly competed in many other international-level bodybuilding competitions at the time. In the previous years (1974 and 1975 Mr. Olympia events), he took the lightweight class wins before winning the overall at the 1976 Mr. Olympia contest.

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