Ronnie loves trash! - Hard Times - Ronnie Coleman

RONNIE COLEMAN knows what you're saying. He knows who you are. The four-time Mr. Olympia has heard all the trash talk concerning his controversial win at the 2001 Mr. Olympia, and he hopes it doesn't stop.

"Nothing slips past me," Coleman told us in mid-January. "I've heard it all: People saying I shouldn't have won, I was bloated, fat and out of shape, that my stomach was over my belt, and all that kind of stuff. It doesn't bother me. In fact, I welcome it. I go on the Web and try to find all the negative stuff I can. It's motivating me, like guys in the NFL who put stuff on a bulletin board to get them going. I always wondered where my motivation was going to come from after winning the Mr. Olympia for a few years, and now I know. What's motivating me is the smack people talk. Of course, it ain't hard to find."

Coleman has taken special notice of KEVIN LEVRONE's criticism. In fact, Levrone's column in FLEX, No-Baloney Levrone, is Mr. Olympia's favorite smack of choice. "It's all baloney," he said of Levrone's commentary. "I just read it and laugh. That's my favorite part of FLEX these days." According to Mr. Olympia, the worst smack of all came when Levrone said Coleman's win was a disservice to the fans. "That one really stands out," he said.

So what's going to happen when the Ronster runs into Levrone or the other naysayers? Heated arguments? Haymakers? "Oh, no," countered Ronnie. "I'm just going to say, 'What's up? How you doing? That was really funny what you said in the magazine.' I'm just going to have fun with them. They're doing me a favor by keeping me focused.

"I'm not mad at anybody. How can you be mad when you're the four-time Mr. Olympia, and you have everything you want? Why would you be mad? People are just speaking their minds. That's what America's all about. I'm having too much fun to say anything bad about anybody."

To the reigning champ, it's all part of the ever-lonely job of being top dawg. "Now I know how LEE HANEY and DORIAN YATES felt when they were in this position," he explained. "People are throwing a lot of negativity at you, saying you're getting old and losing it. You have to find ways to keep the fire going. Now I have, and that's why I think this year is going to be the best year I've ever had. You don't know how anxious I am to compete. Too bad I'm not doing the Arnold this year. I can't wait."

Looks like Ronnie's found his new precontest food: Baloney!

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