But just seeing some of these names from yesteryear was a thrill all in it’s own, as the crowd at the Jackie Gleason Theater can attest. It has been years – and in some cases, decades – since some of these men donned the posing trunks.

In the bikini Olympia qualifier, India Paulino took first place, with Tianna Ta (second) and Juliana Daniell (third) following.

A few years ago, Billy O’Connor would have laughed in your face if you told him he would be spending his Saturday nights sober and in the gym instead of getting completely fucked up in a bar somewhere. The Brooklynite enjoyed the nightlife and took it to the extreme, as many a young man does. But he was smart enough to get off that train before it reached its last stop.

“For many years, I had a major drug and alcohol problem and was unable to control it,” a somber O’Connor, 32, admitted to us. Starting from when he was 21, he went on a tear by getting high and drunk and slowly left behind the subtle semblances of normalcy. Part of that was walking away from an early introduction to weight training, albeit the simplest form.

“It was your typical chest and biceps routine in my parent’s basement,” said O’Connor. He did this for approximately seven years but then, “fell off the map completely.”

Although he was able to perform his job as a wedding photographer during this dark period of his life, O’Connor knew that he needed to get clean if he was going to excel at not just work, but life in general.

Three years ago, a decision was made that classified as a life changer is not strong enough. A life saver is more appropriate. And O’Connor turned again to a familiar place as part of his recovery and sobriety.

“I’m not sure my life would be what it is today if I didn’t train like an animal,” admitted a smiling O’Connor. “I love every aspect of my new lifestyle and I’m looking forward to making more progress.”

Having someone by your side makes it a lot easier and O’Connor’s girlfriend Melissa Mason is also his workout partner and they are currently taking classes together to become certified personal trainers.

“In the future, I hope to start a business that allows me to utilize my passion for bodybuilding and fitness every day,” O’Connor said. ” I have a few ideas in the works right now and am excited to see them through.”

After beating the demons he did, no on is betting against O’Connor.

Billy O’Connor works for Photo Elite in Brooklyn, New York (www.photoelteinc.com) and also lies his trade on a freelance basis. Check out some of his work on his Facebook page.

‘This is Your Magazine’ is merely one of the reasons why MuscleSport Mag is far and wide better than any other publication out there. What other media outlet features the up and coming athlete, the same as if he or she was a professional in their industry? This is the place to get your face and story out there, and who knows what opportunities may arise from that type of exposure?

The top six resembled the one in Las Vegas in more ways, with Dexter Jackson being the one exception. ‘The Blade’ sat this show out, so Toney Freeman moved up from seventh at the O to sixth here. Kai Greene (third), Victor Martinez (fourth) and Dennis Wolf (fifth) placed the same.

The big names in bodybuilding will now enter a much deserved offseason in anticipation for an action packed 2012. In March, of course, the Arnold Classic takes place and we surely will see the likes of Martinez, Wolf and Freeman. But there will be questions if Greene will compete in Ohio again.  It seems a given that Cutler and Heath will choose to prepare year round for the Olympia.

The final placings at the IFBB Sheru Classic were as follows:

1- Phil Heath

2- Jay Cutler

3- Kai Greene

4- Victor Martinez

5- Dennis Wolf

6- Toney Freeman

7- Michael Kefalianos

8- Alfonso Del Rio Valencia

9- Mohammed Touri

10- Ntuk Sunday

11- Varinder Singh Ghuman

“I’m actually happy right now,” Cutler said with a smile as he congratulated Heath on the win.

Overcome with emotion, Heath reveled in being congratulated by the other nine finalists and then brought up a story when he first met Cutler backstage at a local bodybuilding show. “I was playing college basketball back then…all scrawny and I saw (Cutler) walk by and I thought to myself, ‘That’s one big dude,’” recalled Heath.

Heath becomes the 13th man to win the Sandow and prevented Cutler from joining an elite group with five or more titles (Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ron Coleman).

Rounding out the top 10 were Kai Greene, Victor Martinez, Dennis Wolf, Dexter Jackson, Toney Freeman, Brandon Curry, Ronny Rockel and Hidetada Yamagishi.

Nicole Wilkins reclaimed the Figure Olympia title she lost to Erin Stern in 2010, with Stern taking the runner-up spot and Ava Cowan placing third.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – MEN’S OPEN

It’s will be hard to argue if “The Gift” gets the nod, as he is showing improvements from 12 months ago. The same cannot be said of the defending title holder. Cutler appeared to be a little drier in 2010, but a day can make a big difference in bodybuilding. We will see tomorrow night.

Kai Greene, Dexter Jackson, Victor Martinez and Dennis Wolf were also in the first call-out and that should be the top six in no particular order. Greene is a little bloated but looks massive and he should be able to place third. The rest can be interchangeable.

On Saturday evening, we will find out if Cutler can win his fifth Sandow or become the first Olympia champion to be defeated on two separate occasions.

The figure competition is also on tap, where Nicole Wilkins-Lee and Erin Stern have chiseled out a great rivalry. Here is the full line-up:

FIGURE

Alea Suarez
Alicia Harris
Ann Titone
Ava Cowan
Candice Keene
Candice John
Chelsea Morgenstern
Cheryl Brown
Courtney West
Darlene Escano
Deena Walsh
Ella Horton
Erin Stern
Felicia Romero
Gennifer Strobo
Heather Dees
Holly Beck
Jami DeBernard
Jelena Abbou
Krissy Chin
Kristen Nagrani
Larissa Reis
Latisha Wilder
Michele Mayberry
Monica Specking
Natalie Waples
Nicole Wilkins
Raechelle Chase
Teresa Anthony

She has competed in four shows this year and has placed in the top six at each of them. LeFrancois has qualified for the Ms. Olympia and should not be overlooked by the deep line-up that will be present in Las Vegas. The Canadian comes in in top condition year in and year out and should have enough time between now and the middle of September to perfect her physique.

This was a bit of a surprise as LeFrancois finished out of the top three at the IFBB Toronto Pro Super Show only a week prior. But she apparently timed everything right and came in to the Sunshine State dried out and tight.

Now bodybuilding fans will have to wait and see what package LeFrancois will bring to the sport’s biggest stage. But the one thing that we do now for sure is that age is not a factor.

“Official Statement – We are sad to inform you the death of Serge Nubret. Serge has left us on April 19, 2011. The funeral will be held in Paris (Pere Lachaise) on April 29 at 2:10 PM. Meanwhile you can leave a message to his family following this link.    His children.”

Back in July of 2009, MuscleSport Mag posted an article entitled, “The Serge Nubret Mystery Continues,” that was circulated worldwide throughout the Internet and resulted in us being contacted by someone who claimed to be close to the situation asking us to remove parts of the article for Nubret’s safety. With that being a moot point now, we have decided to reprint the entire article in it’s original form:

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In this day and age of instant access and technology that can dispel rumors before they even get any legs, it is amazing that the situation concerning the health of a bodybuilding legend has been in doubt for months on end. Serge Nubret, 70, was reportedly training to make a guest posing appearance at this year’s Mr. Olympia contest before being found in a comatose state at his home in France on March 19, 2009. Nubret’s website included this official statement:

To cut a long story short and to stop the rumors available on the internet, we have decided to publish this official statement concerning Serge Nubret’s health state.

On March 19 2009, our father was discovered home, in a coma by firemen. He was immediately transfered to the Lariboisiere hospital. Since that, Serge Nubret is under the supervision of the hospital’s medical staff. For now, the diagnosis is a hypoglycemic coma probably due to a malfunction of the pancreas. The explorations continues while Serge Nubret is in rehabilitation. We will keep you informed of any change in its health state.

Meanwhile, we suspend the website. Thank you for your understanding and support.

His children.

He was hospitalized and then supposedly suffered a stroke, which was not confirmed. There was even a rumor that Nubret had passed away. Approximately a month later, a forum on the Quantum Touch website reported that he may have been poisoned and that his daughter was his primary care physician:

Hi. My friend, Serge Nubret was deliberately poisoned. His photo is my avatar. He is at Laribroisiere Hospital in France in the Toxicology Department. He has been sedated there for the past 4 weeks. No one is allowed to see him but the family…most of whom he does not trust.

He was in excellent health before. Now he’s in a strange hypnotic zombie state for no reason…like he’s all drugged up and does not recognize people some of the time. He should have been out of there after a few days. But he can not talk or eat or stay awake most of the time. He’s lost a lot of weight. There is no heart or brain damage. His daughter is one of his doctors who is keeping everyone away from him. She is an anethetist and was not on speaking terms with him, but now controls his health and won’t talk to anyone or let anyone see him. He is fighting for his life.

I stressed out so bad about it, I got shingles near my eyes and I need QT myself. I feel very badly about what is happening because it’s unbelievable and sad. Please Help! Send QT and prayer for healing and strength. Thank you so much. I will send my best energy, QT and prayers to all of these requests that I read as well! I’m just learning how to do it; it’s new to me.

A day later, the same forum member posted the following:

Today my friends in France filed a police report to investigate and move him out of there. I pray he will have the strength to survive until they can intervene.

And then on the Muscular Development forum, the following was reported as being from a “friend of Serge Nubret”:

Dear Friends of Serge,

Tommy and I are putting together a card to send to Serge from all of his
friends and fans to show him love and support. Serge has been in the hospital since March 18 when he was poisoned at Pascale’s apartment and sent to intensive care toxicology.

A police investigation has been going on for the past several weeks to fully examine all who were involved and the cover up at Lariboisiere Hospital (where Serge had been sedated/drugged into a state of coma/confused trance where he did not recognize anyone for over a month and could not move or talk).

His daughter, Karine, an anesthetist, was the doctor in charge of him. No one was allowed to see him.When the police became involved, Serge’s condition started to improve immediately–less than 24 hours later he started to recognize people again after the drugs/sedation were ceased.

He is still unable to talk or move very much. Police District 10 is not giving out much information right now because of protocol/security procautions; some of his family are currently under investigation.

Before Serge was poisoned, he was in one of the best conditions of his life. His physique looked similar to and weighed the same as it had decades earlier at his best.

Because he had no heart attack/stroke and his heart/brain MRI was also normal, we are hoping for recovery of memory and health and that there
is no permanent damage from being poisoned, drugged and sedated. Please send him positive energy and prayers.

Thank you.

The latest word came on July 17 when the Bodybuilding.com forum included this post, supposedly from Nubret himself:

my children poisened me to take my money books and land

they drugging me so I canot talk and lies why i am here
i canot walk i dont want die in hopital
hopital know this and cover up everyting pleas get me out

We have reprinted all of the above posts in their original form, misspellings included.

What exactly happened to Nubret remains to be seen, but one thing that we know for sure is that he was training and looking fantastic for someone his age right before he was felled. The likely speculation was that Nubret was using performance-enhancing drugs for his ‘comeback,’ if you will, which caused him to become ill in the first place. Even if he was using anything, his possible grave present condition would appear to have more causes.

MuscleSport Mag has contacted the IFBB and the person who sent the information to Muscular Development asking for any details or at least clarification on what is and what is not true in this situation.

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Nubret’s death at the age of 72 may give the impression that the book is closed, but that is the exact opposite. The condition that he has been in for over two years made his passing something that did not come as a surprise, but nonetheless it should elicit a strong response.

If a crime was in fact committed, then that needs to be revealed and the person(s) responsible deserve to get what it coming to them. Poisoning at worst or neglect at best may have occurred here and Nubret’s family should want to clear their names if that is in fact not the truth.

It works both ways – they should be outed and punished if they did wrong here, as well as apologized to and given condolences for the loss of their father if they are totally innocent. However you look at it, the only way we can get to either place is to have the questions answered.

With the funeral to be held 10 days following his death, does that mean an autopsy was done during that extended period of time? What is the official cause of death? Has this been looked at by the French authorities? Has the Medical Examiner (or the French equivalent) deemed the death ‘non-suspicious?’

These are just a few questions that are obvious ones and we will do our part as a media outlet to press the right people for answers.

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‘The Predator’ fell from fourth place in his inaugural Olympia the year before to a disappointing seventh and the two-time Arnold Classic champion took a beating from the critics. In their defense, the Brooklyn, New York native did come in out of shape and had a distended midsection that was noticeable by everyone, including the judges.

Greene sat out this year’s Arnold – a strange decision but one that makes sense in some ways – to concentrate on the O. He seemed to peak earlier in the year since 2009 at the Arnold but now has changed his strategy to get it together six months later. If he knows that he has one shot every 12 months to do some damage, then it would seem wise to move up and go after the big prize.

having already dominated in Columbus, Greene’s career will be completed with at least one Olympia win. But that seemed as unlikely as Barry Bonds eventually being inducted into the Hall of Fame last September. Perhaps the best thing that could have happened to Greene was the shock of a bad showing on bodybuilding’s biggest stage.

There is a lot of pressure on him as far as quieting the critics and putting himself back on the map. Greene’s name has hardly been mentioned and no one is expecting him to be a factor at the Orleans Arena. But he can pull off a stunner and break into the top three by putting together a presentation like the one in Ohio the night he won his first Arnold.

The line-up for the O is stacked with Cutler, Phil Heath, Dennis Wolf, Branch Warren, Ronny Rockel and so many others, so Greene has his work cut out for him. His work ethic has come into question but that would seem ridiculous when you see Greene at his best. He has arguably the best back in the sport and brings a flair that is unmatched to the stage. Greene needs at least a top six placing to get back into the pack but anyone who counts him out of the top three this early has obviously forgotten how much of a difference he made not too long ago.

KAI GREENE’S CONTEST HISTORY

2005 New York Pro – 14th

2006 Iron Man Pro – NP

2006 a Ray Colorado Pro – 14th

2007 New York Pro – 6th

2007 Keystone Pro – 3rd

2007 Colorado Pro – 1st

2008 Arnold Classic – 3rd

2008 New York Pro – 1st

2009 Arnold Classic – 1st

2009 Australian Pro Grand Prix – 1st

2009 Mr. Olympia – 4th

2010 Arnold Classic – 1st

2010 Australian Pro Grand Prix – 1st

2010 Mr. Olympia – 7th

Rockel has brought an incredible proportioned physique to the stage but had been stuck below the top three. His diminutive stature was the obvious reason why he would hear his name called after the likes of Branch Warren, Jay Cutler, Dennis Wolf and Phil Heath but that is something out of his control.

Rockel stuck to his game plan and it was a general consensus within the industry that he finally received his due. Now the question arises is how he can springboard the victory into a better placing in September at the Orleans Arena.

The line-up will be tough, as usual, but even more so now that Warren can come in flexing his first Arnold win. After finishing second and third, respectively, at the 2009 and 2010 Olympias, ‘Quadrasaurus’ is more than just a mere threat to Cutler’s reign. Speaking of the two-time defending champion, he will need to be knocked out to be dethroned and that doesn’t seem likely. Cutler learned from his mistakes in 2008 when Dexter Jackson swiped the Sandow from him and he has been in top condition ever since.

Last year, Heath took the stage looking amazing but still couldn’t defeat his close friend Cutler. ‘The Gift’ bowed out of the Arnold to concentrate on the Olympia and will need every advantage just to be the runner-up again. The ‘Big Bad Wolf’ has been on a tear since the last O and will be a tough out and Kai Greene will slip under the radar after a poor showing in Las Vegas. That may play right into his hands and ‘The Predator’ cannot be overlooked as a possible top six finisher.

So even though ‘The Rock’ can come into bodybuilding’s most prestigious show on a high note, he will have to peak again just to stand pat.

2011 IFBB Mr. Europe rand Prix Results:

1 – Ronny Rockel

2 – Roelly Winklaar

3 – Flex Lewis

4 – Robert Priotrkowitz

5 – Toney Freeman

6 – Essa Obiad

7 – Sergey Shelestov

8 – Thomas Bengali

9 – Alvin Small

10 – Marcos Chacon