“I’m going home,” he tweeted on December 29. “Cosmetic surgery was a huge success. I’ll be back on stage in a couple of weeks.”

Coleman further tweeted that he had the operation to add more size to his already massive frame. “It never hurts to get bigger.”

The 5’11″, 330-pound former champion has not competed since placing fourth at the 2007 Olympia but has never officially announced his retirement and seems to enjoy frequent rumors of his impending return. Coleman has kept himself busy with guest posing appearances in the years following his record-tying Sandow run (1998 to 2005), as recent as December’s IFBB Pro  World Masters.

RON COLEMAN CONTEST HISTORY

• 1990 Mr. Texas (Heavyweight & Overall)
• 1991 World Amateur Championships (Heavyweight)
• 1995 Canada Pro Cup
• 1996 Canada Pro Cup
• 1997 Grand Prix Russia
• 1998 Night of Champions
• 1998 Toronto Pro Invitational
• 1998 Mr. Olympia
• 1998 Grand Prix Finland
• 1998 Grand Prix Germany
• 1999 Mr. Olympia
• 1999 World Pro Championships
• 1999 Grand Prix England
• 2000 Mr. Brody Langley
• 2000 Grand Prix England
• 2000 World Pro Championships
• 2000 Mr. Olympia
• 2001 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic
• 2001 Mr. Olympia
• 2001 New Zealand Grand Prix
• 2002 Mr. Olympia
• 2002 Grand Prix Holland
• 2003 Mr. Olympia
• 2003 Grand Prix Russia
• 2004 Mr. Olympia
• 2004 Grand Prix England
• 2004 Grand Prix Holland
• 2004 Grand Prix Russia
• 2005 Mr. Olympia
• 2006 Grand Prix Austria – IFBB, 2nd
• 2006 Grand Prix Holland – IFBB, 2nd
• 2006 Grand Prix Romania – IFBB, 2nd
• 2006 Olympia – IFBB, 2nd
• 2007 Olympia – IFBB, 4th

“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

Coleman originally intended on competing in this year’s Olympia but his travel commitments with BSN proved to be too much and would have affected his preparation.

The back injury that caused him to finish in fourth place at the 2007 Mr. Olympia and subsequent surgery  that made him sit out 2008 is 100 percent and was not a factor in Coleman putting off his comeback by a year. Coleman feels that the time off will be an advantage for him, as far as the back recuperation and not putting his body through contest prep for the past few years.

Coleman made a recent guest posing appearance at the Atlantic States in New York City and stated that he weighed under 300 pounds that night. During his active career, he said that he would go as high as 320 in the offseason and cut down to approximately 295 on stage.

Tied with Lee Haney for the most Olympia wins, Coleman still has that fire and desire to go out there and will make history with his ninth Olympia victory.

When ‘The King’ walks on the stage next year in Las Vegas, it will be the biggest comeback in bodybuilding history since Arnold Schwarzenegger returned in 1980 after five years away from competing.

The episode including the interview can be heard using the media player below.

BE SURE TO READ OUR UPCOMING ONLINE MAGAZINE FOR UPDATES ON THE RON COLEMAN COMEBACK. THIS WILL BE PRODUCED THE SAME AS A PRINT PUBLICATION AND HAVE A ‘PAGE FLIPPER’ VIEWER.

Richards won four of those shows and was the first runner-up in the other, and included three in the U.S. (1982 America Cup, 1983 Teen Los Angeles, 1984 California Gold Cup Classic) and two abroad (1989 Mr. Barbados, 1992 Nigerian Championships).

Although a 36-inch waist may seem fairly wide for a bodybuilder, when you have a 67-inch chest and 26-inch arms, your belt line doesn’t sound as large. But Richards, who was profiled frequently in the Weider publications, was always viewed as someone who could not be taken seriously because of his thickness.

One must remember that during the main part of Richards’ career, Lee Haney was the reigning Mr. Olympia and had a muscular build with symmetry, a word that would never be confused with Richards.

The year that Richards stopped competing, Dorian Yates succeeded Haney as Mr. Olympia and began the monstrous era. Thicker bodies, including waists and ultimately abdominals, eventually became commonplace and the next one to be crowned Mr. O, Ron Coleman, took it to a different level.

He is sometimes called the “Natural Uncrowned Mr. Olympia,” but that sounds like pure fantasy no matter if you read into it or not, and in more ways than one.

Richards did possess a physique that was not appreciated then as much as it would have 10 or so years later. The USC graduate may have become a winner of more than one Sandow if he came along later on, but that doesn’t take away what he once was.