by Christian Duque
First and foremost, I want to send a huge congratulations to Andrew Jacked. I think it was a great move on his part to jump into this particular contest because of the international fanfare that it always generates. Andrew is one of those guys that is on the radar and has been for quite some time. He is somebody who is considered to be a future Mr Olympia and somebody who can stand next to the giants like Samson and hold his own.
But even beyond Samson, Andrew has the genetics that put him in a league all his own. He’s got the size, but he’s got the flow and symmetry that so many of bodybuilding’s old school fans have been yearning for. He’s not an ankle-biter like Derek or Hadi, but he’s also not a mass monster like Nick Walker. Some have even compared him to Victor Martinez – one of the great uncrowned Mr Olympia of all time. I think it’s still too early to write Andrew off as not winning a Sandow. I think that his win at FIBO is going to definitely help him with regards to bringing his best later this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Because now he is officially qualified and he won in top form. He also battled for that win against several formidable competitors. Sas being one of them.
I must say that Sas has brought a tremendous amount of heart to the stage. Both in battling hard for the top title in Detroit and doing it again here at this European gem of a contest. Although both times he came up a little bit short, he has won the hearts and minds of countless fans. He has also become somewhat of a staple with many of the bodybuilding outlets on YouTube and beyond. When a guy takes second place he earns the respect of not only the media, but also his fellow competitors and the fans. It’s also how you take second. Sas took second in top form and exhibited traits of great sportsmanship in both shows. Although he is still not Olympia-qualified, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be very soon. It is not a question of if, but when. I also want to give huge kudos to Sergio Oliva. Sergio was one of the first to throw his hat into the ring and was considered an early favorite. With Andrew’s joining of the contest, people started to look less at Sergio and more at the new favorite. Tthat does not mean that Sergio took any pressure off the gas. He gave his all and looked phenomenal.
So where are we now? Well Andrew is qualified and will probably, hopefully, spend the rest of the year hunkering down and doing the business of bodybuilding. I feel like a broken record. Because I’m always giving the same advice. Whenever a top guy wins and is qualified that should be it until the Olympia. Nothing irks me more than to see a guy that could be Mr Olympia and who has qualified, continuing to compete given the fact that exhaustion is a very real thing. Just because you’re one of the best bodybuilders in the world, does not mean that your body does not get tired. These guys are running some serious protocols. I don’t care what they say. The same way people lie about their weight, they lie about what they’re running. If we believed what everybody bodybuilder on top said, then we would be probably the biggest idiots on the planet. Any top guy that says they’re running a low dose of test and maybe one or two other compounds and that’s it, is probably the kind of guy that could sell you a piece of crap car on a used car lot and tell you that it’s the best thing since sliced bread. In this sport, especially if you are a super fan or a writer, you have got to have a very sharp bullshit radar. Competitors will tell you all sorts of things, especially if they think you’ll believe it.
Like I said, I don’t think that Andrew is hitting it hard and I don’t think he’s doing anything irresponsible, but he has a body and that body needs rest. So I would hope that after this big win at FIBO that he will kind of calm down a little bit and start working towards perfecting and fine-tuning. He can also go on a guest posing tour and he can make various appearances all throughout the world. He could go to New York,Chicago, Tampa and many other contests. He does not need to keep competing. The question is, will he adhere to the age-old wisdom of not driving till the wheels fall off or will he continue to compete like his peers? Only time will tell.
FIBO was no easy win for Andrew. Sasan Heirati really brought it. Here is a competitor who really has championed the cause for coming in the best possible condition. Some believe he could have beat William in Detroit. Others believe that he could have beaten Andrew at FIBO. The reality of the matter is that a condition alone is not going to win a contest but it will surely get you in the conversation. I also think that he has developed an incredible physique in terms of size and overall symmetry. He is somebody that is also not shy onstage and has been able to pose amongst the best of the best. Like I said, when it comes to posing and presenting a classical aesthetic physique, you don’t get any better than Andrew Jacked. And that being said, Sas definitely held his own. I think that Sas was so on point that I have to agree with Nick’s Strength And Power.
Nick Miller is of the opinion that even if Andrew Jacked had not competed, Sas would have been able to win the show and hold Sergio off.
With regards to Sergio, though, he has really done a tremendous amount of hard work and has brought a tremendous physique to the stage time after time. But very much like Hunter and other prodigies, Sergio is held to a higher standard than his peers. I know that I cannot prove this and I know the judges would deny it till they’re blue in the face, but when your father is a multi-year Mr Olympia champion, it stands to reason that you will be in his shadow forever. It would be very very difficult for Sergio to break from that shadow and set himself up as his own legend. He is a legend to a certain extent, but he will never outshine his father.
That being said, I think thO top three at FIBO will more than likely all be qualified for the Olympia. With Sas it’s only a question of time. With Sergio I would say the same, but in his case I would be more prone to finding a smaller show so that he can get that qualification but still not run his body through the ringer. For Oliva to win a big show against top talent it will require that and more. And there simply isn’t a need for it. At the end of the day nobody asks guys “how did you qualify to make it to the Olympia?” The fact that you’re on the Olympia stage is all that matters. And I do believe Sergio can place as high as sixth if he really comes in firing on all cylinders. This is not by any means a second or third call out kind of guy. He just has not had the best of luck and needs to find his stride. There is nothing structurally wrong with him, and he is most definitely not a lazy guy in the gym. I have seen him train and I know what he’s all about. I would not sleep on Sergio and I certainly would not sleep on Sas.
With regards to Andrew Jacked, I am happy that he’s qualified, and I’m hoping that he’s not going to press his luck. If he hunkers down and does the business of bodybuilding, I think he could surprise a lot of people at the end of the year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Do you agree with the decision at FIBO? Do you think that Andrew should have beaten Sas? Do you think Sergio should have been third or do you believe he should have been higher?
I will say that I was not super impressed with the backdrop at FIBO and I was also not super impressed with the fact that they didn’t have a livestream. I thought that was kind of cheap. Then again, maybe it wasn’t that the promoters were stingy, maybe as Nick Miller pointed out on his coverage, it’s more a question of the fact that the show was at a time slot that would not have had many people wait up all night to watch it over here in the western hemisphere. That may also be the case. I will say that the show did have good lighting and from what I saw I was able to discern quite a bit of detail even though I was not there. As I will always say, you cannot compare being there with looking at photos and videos. I don’t care if the photos are the highest resolution possible and the videos are shot in 8k. You cannot compare being at a show with merely looking at media from a show.
In closing I think the judges made the right call here. What say you? As always , thank you for reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It is guaranteed to drum up considerable conversation.