IT WAS CLEAR THE 245-POUND GIFT HAD
BEEN BETTER BEFORE, BUT IT WAS ALSO
PRETTY CLEAR THAT NONE OF THE 17
MEN WHO PRECEDED HIM WERE BETTER
THAN HIM.
previous five Os, highlighted by his
runner-up finish last year. But he
was a bit blurry this time, forced to
do battle without his most
effective weapon—abdominal
clarity. He also appeared a little
smaller than previous years. As
the 42-year-old Flexatron ran
through his mandatory poses, it
was clear that he would drop from
the top trio. But how far would he
fall?
COMPETITOR no . 10
The opposite question
accompanied Mamdouh Elssbiay:
How high could he climb? Big
Ramy, all three bills of him, makes
a meh first impression. Standing
semi relaxed and then striking a
front double biceps, he’s a mostly
blank canvas, lacking ab or quad
lines, and his waist seems wide.
But as he rolls through subsequent
poses, he transforms. His hips
vanish, lines materialize. In his
phenomenal side and rear shots,
he looks like the 14th Mr. Olympia.
Aw, hell, give him the Sandow now;
Heath can’t hang with that. Then,
just as swiftly, he loses his hold on
the crowd and judges with a
most-muscular that fails to
splinter his pecs and an abs and
thigh that appears downright
blocky. It’s as if we watched him
over a sequence of poses go from
fourth to first to third.
COMPETITOR no . 14
After he beat every O contender at
the Prague Pro two weeks after
last year’s Olympia, much was
expected of William Bonac. Once
again the 5’7”, 230-pound
Dutchman delivered. With a full
year of training, his pecs and
hamstrings—my only two quibbles
last year—were up to snuff.
Nobody raised more fine detailing
JANUARY 2018 | FLEX
43