The 1990 Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic – The year of drug testing.
The 1990 Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic faced some major challenges in 1990, with pressure from the American government to clean up professional events, reducing the use of performance-enhancing drugs, in other words, steroids or PEDs.
Since its debut in 1965 the Mr. Olympia has been the biggest bodybuilding contest in the history of the sport. The best bodybuilders would compete for the sports most prestigious title.
In the early days of bodybuilding, athletes such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergio Oliva, and the majority of bodybuilders alleged that they took steroids from doctors and had them administered under professional supervision.
With steroids included in their bodybuilding regime, bodybuilders from around the world managed to sculpt incredible world-class physiques.
Fast forward to the 1980’s, steroids started to make the headlines, with several prominent figures pointing out the health risks when using them.
In 1985, Sports Illustrated published an article, “Steroids: A Problem of Huge Dimensions.” This article exposed the use of steroids in high schools, colleges, and obviously at the professional level.
This exposed a big problem in all professional sports, where no drug testing was being done on the athletes.
We cannot forget one of the biggest controversies in Olympic history when Canadian sprinter, Ben Johnson, was stripped of his Olympic gold medal after he failed a drug test at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
This and many other revelations of steroid use in sports, caused huge debates all over the world, and the United States Congress passed the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. This new law classified steroids as a controlled substance and made it illegal to sell or buy the drugs.
The new drug laws forced all major professional sports organizations to include steroid testing for all their athletes.
The Weider’s introduce steroid testing
The new drug laws caused a major problem for professional bodybuilding, and the sports biggest promoters, Joe and Ben Weider, had to somehow introduce drug testing into their sport.
The Weider brothers, especially Ben Weider, dedicated his life to including bodybuilding as a sport in the Olympics, but to do this, they knew their athletes would be drug tested.
Joe and Ben Weider did everything possible to clean up their organization and follow all IOC recommendations to make bodybuilding a possible candidate to be included in the Olympics. The dream has still not been realized, but Ben Weider’s successor, IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja, still works very closely with the IOC, and is still pursuing Ben Weider’s dream of making amateur bodybuilding an Olympic sport.
Several amateur events already had random steroid testing taking place, but the professional shows, such as the Mr. Olympia did not have steroid testing, but this would all change in 1990.
The 1990 Arnold Classic – The Controversy
Joe Weider decided that the two biggest bodybuilding events in 1990 would be steroid-tested. The second edition of the Arnold Classic in 1990, and the Mr. Olympia in September.
The Weider’s used their popular magazine publications, and other media outlets to show the world that they are fighting to clean up their sport from steroid use.
When the 1990 Arnold Classic arrived, the majority of bodybuilders were caught off-guard, not knowing when to stop their cycles of steroid use, or what would not be detected.
On stage, the bodybuilders still looked incredible, since they were still using steroids, taing the chance that they would not be tested positive.
Shaw Ray won the event and took home the $60,000 prize, that went to the winner, which was a lot of money at that time.
To the shock of the bodybuilding world, four weeks later, while on tour in Toronto, Canada, Shawn Ray received a phone call, informing him that he failed the drug test, and had to return the trophy, and $60,000 prize money that he won. Mike Ashley was declared the winner.
Shawn Ray claimed that he stopped using steroids five months before the event, but unfortunately for him, the drugs were still detected in his system.
Samir Bannout, Nimrod King, and Ralf Moueller were also disqualified for failing the drug test at the 1990 Arnold Classic.
The nightmare was not over for the professional bodybuilders, as they had another drug-tested event in September, and that would be the 1990 Mr. Olympia.
The 1990 Mr. Olympia – The Drug Tested Nightmare
After the Arnold Classic, all the focus would be on the 1990 Mr. Olympia, the second drug-tested event of the year. This time around, the bodybuilders well were informed of what would be happening behind the scenes with the drug-testing protocols in place.
The drug testing results would not take four weeks to arrive as at the Arnold Classic, but they would be in hand 24 hours before the event took place.
Five competitors would be disqualified for testing positive for steroid use, mainly the use of Winstrol, the same drug Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson used.
Mohammed Benaziza, Berry DeMey, J.J. Marsh, Van Walcott Smith, and Vince Comerford were all disqualified.
When the athletes made their way to the Olympia stage, it was evident that they were not at their usual best.
The majority of bodybuilders looked soft, and were not as sharp as usual. It was a close battle between Lee Haney and Lee Labrada, with Labrada beating Lee Haney in the prejudging phase of the event. But Lee Haney managed to edge past Lee Labrada and win his seventh consecutive Mr. Olympia title.
Mike Christian stood out above the rest, seemingly looking as if the drug testing did not affect him. Many argued that he deserved a higher placing than fourth, possibly challenging for the Mr. Olympia title.
Shawn Ray managed to pass the drug test and place third. Shawn would go on to win the 1991 Arnold Classic.
Drug Testing – A failed project
Drug testing in professional bodybuilding was a huge failure, and at the start of the 1991 season, the IFBB Professional League reversed its stance and removed drug testing from all their professional events.
The same could not be said for Vince McMahon’s WBF (World Bodybuilding Federation), IFBB’s rival federation. With all the pressure of drug testing, Vince McMahon decided to pull the plug on his new bodybuilding federation.
Drug testing continued to be used throughout IFBB’s amateur events, and is still being used today. The athletes are picked at random at IFBB’s major amateur events.
It must be noted, that Jim Manion’s NPC and NPC Worldwide, are not connected in any way with the IFBB amateur federation. IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja, and NPC President Jim Manion decided to go their separate ways in 2017.
Jim Manion continued to sanction IFBB Professional League events, while the IFBB created a new professional division called the IFBB Elite Pro League. Both professional leagues are not drug tested.
1990 Mr. Olympia Results
1 Lee Haney
2 Lee Labrada
3 Shawn Ray
4 Mike Christian
5 Rich Gaspari
6 Francis Benfatto
7 Frank Hillebrand
8 Samir Bannout
9 Andreas Munzer
10 Eddie Robinson
11 Mike Quinn
12 Ron Love
13 Jean Luc Favre
14 Bernard Sealy
DQ Berry DeMey
DQ Mohammed Benaziza
DQ J.J.Marsh
DQ Van Walcott Smith
DQ Vince Comerford
1990 Arnold Classic Results
1 Mike Ashley
2 Mike Christian
3 Andreas Munzer
4 Robby Robinson
5 Steve Brisbois
6 Tony Pearson
7 Paul Jean-Guillaume
8 Chris Dickerson
9 Albert Beckles
DQ Samir Bannout
DQ Nimrod King
DQ Ralf Moeller
DQ Shawn Ray
