In the bodybuilding world, 8 mr. Olympia "Grandmaster" Ronnie. Kuhlman is almost everyone knows, everyone knows, as one of the greatest exponents of bodybuilding ever, Ronnie has a burly physique and superhuman strength, he has had many great moments in his bodybuilding career, however, when asked about the worst moments in the sport, he said it was at the 1997 IFBB Ironman Pro Invitational, when he lost to "Little Plum" Lee Priest, and he almost gave up his bodybuilding career.
It is said: "Only to see thieves eat meat, not to see thieves beaten", many people have witnessed the success of Ronnie, but they have not seen his hardships before the creation of the "Age of Great Navigation".
Born in 1964, Ronnie competed in the bodybuilding contest for the first time in 1990, won the Mr. Texas championship, won the professional card in 1991, and before 1997, he participated in the Mr. Olympia contest 5 times, the best result was the 6th place in 1996, he was not only repeatedly rubbed on the floor by his contemporary "Shadow Killer" Yates, but even the "giant killer" Lee Priest, who was only 163 centimeters tall, won him many times.
Ronnie. Kuhlman said: "It was the lowest point of my life, when I finished third in the 1997 Ironman Pro Invitational, there was a small man named Lee Priest, he was a very good guy, although he was not the biggest, not the tallest, but when a guy who wasn't as big as you and wasn't as tall as you beat you in the game, for me, it was the lowest moment of my life ever, and I almost gave up bodybuilding. ”
Lee Priest, 8 years younger than Ronnie, was born in Australia in 1972, is 1.63 meters tall, weighs 102 kilograms in the season, and is nicknamed "Little Lee Superman" and nicknamed "Little Plum". He started working out at the age of 10 and won his first bodybuilding competition at the age of 13.
Since entering the professional competition, Lee Priest has consistently finished in the top ten in the Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Competition, and even won the title of Mr. Universe in 2013, which many believe is Lee. Priest was probably one of the most underrated bodybuilders of the '90s and early 2000s.
The biggest weakness of "Little Plum" is that he is too short, only 163 centimeters, which is a great loss in the Olympiad champions with an average height of 175-180 centimeters, but he has an extraordinary muscle mass, and his famous saying is: "They are only taller than me, but not bigger than me!" Moreover, his arms are well trained, with an upper arm circumference of 55 centimeters and a forearm of 45 centimeters, which is recognized as the "arm king" in the bodybuilding community.
Many people probably know although Ronnie is 32 years old. Kuhlman won the Russian Grand Prix in 1997, but in that year's Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Competition, he only finished 9th, while the "Little Plum", which was 17 centimeters shorter than him, finished 6th.
In 1997, on the night of the Ironman Pro Invitational, The Golden Boy Wheeler won the championship and "Little Plum" came in second, beating third-placed Ronnie. Kuhlman.
The successive defeats hit Ronnie hard, because Ronnie had lost to him several times that year, and this time the failure made him reflect, Ronnie recalled: "I was thinking, I was 1.8 meters tall, had a lot of muscles, and was a real big man. I looked at Lee, he was only 1 meter 63 tall, but he beat me, I thought, how can someone so small as me beat someone so big? I thought, maybe I'm not suitable for bodybuilding. "
Thinking about it, Ronnie even wanted to give up bodybuilding and never want to compete in bodybuilding competitions again. But it was like the last shred of darkness before dawn, and after 1997, the Louisiana police officer would shine brightly, and from 1998 onwards, he changed the entire bodybuilding circle and opened his eight-game winning streak.
Just as Ronnie was starting to think about retiring, he told his then-girlfriend about the idea, and his girlfriend told him: "Kid, shut up"! In fact, Ronnie was not reconciled, and when he thought that if he did not play again, he would lose the free membership of the gym, he hesitated...
Ronnie thought to himself, "Well, then wait a minute, if I quit bodybuilding then I'm going to lose my free membership to the gym.""
Thankfully, Ronnie gave up on the idea of retiring at the time and persevered, even though it seemed hopeless at the time. Fate is sometimes like this, and sometimes people only sink to the bottom and bounce up higher. If Ronnie had actually quit at that time, there would have been no more Mr. Olympia titles won in history (with Lee Haney, of course).