The big league: with the Muscle Fantasy League and a revamped Challenge Round, this year's Mr. Olympia is a guaranteed home run

So you think you know bodybuilding. Oh, yeah, you can predict with uncanny ease which athletes will be the last five standing come the Mr. Olympia this October. Hell, you don't even need to see them on contest day to prophesize the outcome ... you're that damn good.

At this point, we should be asking you to put your money where your big mouth is, but luckily, there's a way you can prove your mettle without risking a dime. In fact, if your insight is as good as you think it is, you could show off your overdeveloped bodybuilding brain and earn great prizes for your efforts.

How? The Muscle Fantasy League (MFL), sponsored by Weider Publications and supplement company Vyotech, gives you an opportunity to face off against thousands of other fans starting in early October. Sure, you can get points if you pick seven-time champ Ronnie Coleman to win it all again (which is akin to that jackass in your office football pool who picks all the Las Vegas favorites each week--yawwwwwn).

But to separate the pretenders from the prescient, you'll get even more points for choosing who ends up eighth, 10th, even 12th, which requires either a healthy dose of luck or a deep understanding of the nuances of the muscle sport.

Beyond mere placings, you can rack up valuable points by predicting everything from the first and last callouts of the Challenge Round to correctly identifying where Olympia dark horse Alexander Fedorov will place. (For all of you who think he's overhyped, go right ahead and put him last--if you dare, now that bona fide bragging rights are on the line.)

The MFL doesn't stop at the Mr. Olympia. You'll also have the opportunity to forecast the Figure, Fitness and Ms. Olympia showdowns, for a total of approximately 100 choices in all. Once you make your selections, you can follow the action live on American Media's pay-per-view coverage of the competition October 15.

For more details about the MFL and the Olympia pay-per-view, keep your mouse aimed at 2005olympia.com, which will be the first outlet to release information as it becomes available. Meanwhile, you can fill your head with all kinds of thoughts and ruminations. Will Markus Ruhl over the competition? Do I dare pick Jay Cutler to finally win this thing? Is Gustavo Badell top-three material? Will the judges finally notice ripped-to-the-bone Darrem Charles? Will a promising Olympia rookie, such as Capriese Murray, sneak into the top six? It's enough to make a grown fan cry with joy.

RELATED ARTICLE: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

The Challenge Round is revamped for the 2005 Mr. O

Following up on last year's successful introduction of the Challenge Round to the Mr. Olympia--which resulted in a thrilling final-pose showdown between Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler for the title--changes have been made to up the ante.

Although the round will have no bearing on the final outcome of the show, tell that to the competitors, who will be vying for $50,000 in prize money and, more important, a very public victory or defeat. Would a loss in the Challenge Round by the eventual Mr. O winner tarnish the crown? Best be on your game, front-runners.

Here's how this "contest within a contest" will play out.

* The leading five athletes, determined after four rounds of official Olympia competition, will square off.

* Their specific placings, as decided by the IFBB judging panel, will not be revealed; they will stand in competitor number order. All five will start with zero points.

* Each competitor will call one individual mandatory pose of his choice against the other four finalists. The winner of each pose, as scored by a panel of former Mr. Olympia winners, will be awarded two points.

* After the first competitor has completed his four challenges, the next competitor will begin his four challenges, and so on until all have had their turn.

* At the end, the total points will be tallied and prizes awarded as follows: first place, $25,000; second, $10,000; third, $8,000; fourth, $5,000; and fifth, $2,000.

To celebrate the contest's 40-year history, as mentioned, the judging panel will comprise past Mr. Olympia winners. As we go to press, Sergio Oliva, Franco Columbu, Frank Zane, Samir Bannout and Dorian Yates are slated to judge, with rumors that other former Mr. Olympias will be recruited very soon.

With the $50,000 increase, American Media, Inc., and the IFBB (copromoters of Joe Weider's 2005 Olympia Weekend) have announced that the total prize money for the Mr. Olympia contest is now $550,000, compared to $400,000 in 2004. The total prize money for all of the weekend's events is rising from $541,000 to $711,000. Such totals leave no doubt that as the pinnacle of bodybuilding competition, the Olympia Weekend has no equal.

BY MICHAEL BERG

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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