How did the hype of having an Aussie bodybuilder in the Mr Olympia affect the picks of our pros?

With the 2016 Mr Olympia happening over the weekend, there was a lot of buzz amongst the elite of Australian Bodybuilding community. From social bloggers interested in the athletic physique competitions to pro level elites themselves, everyone had an opinion on who was going to make the top 6 spots on the day. One of the reasons why there was so much hype this time around was for the first time in a long time Australia had someone to back in the main event of the weekend. Big Josh Lenartowicz made his long awaited Olympia debut and was announced as one of the top 10 bodybuilders in the world for 2016.

In the lead up to the Olympia lots of people were tipping Josh to place in the top 5 or 6 on the day. Whilst Josh didn’t make it to the final round of places, he made a great showing for a first time competitor and has proved he will be an even bigger thing in the years to come.

We took a small sample of some of the bodybuilding elites out of Australia and whilst they may have succumb to the draw of Big Aussie Josh, one thing they all had in common was the main man Phil Heath. With notable outs like Kai Greene and Dennis Wolf, Phil was an easy choice for most as The Guy. The same can’t be said for the rest of the placements however, even if we exclude the pick of Josh Lenartowicz from the selection there was no clear placement order for the rest of the top 6.

Dean McKillop was the only one who successfully got the order of the top 3 and Aaron Curtis picked 5 out of the top 6 correctly, is seems the big surprise was William Bonac. With Bonac’s first top 5 placement he appears to have thrown a spanner in the works for those who thought they knew the current and future champs.

The other competitors in the no surprise category were Shaun Rhoden, Dexter Jackson and Big Ramy. Shaun and Dexter are always on point, so for most it was a toss up between these two as to who would come in second place. Big Ramy has been making his accent to the top of the mountain over the last few years and with his enormous size, he might just keep climbing spot by spot as he has done the previous few years.

So with Big Josh making an impressive first showing and William Bonac making a big leap up the ladder, who will be the next Mr Olympia? The obvious answer seems to be that Phil Heath will reign supreme until he is either injured or decides to call it quits, who knows he might pull a Dexter Jackson and compete until he’s 50. But who will be there to pick up the pieces and claim Bodybuilding’s ultimate prize once Phil’s journey comes to an end?

2016 Mr Olympia Results

1st Phil Heath – 2016 6X Mr. Olympia

2nd Shawn Rhoden

3rd Dexter Jackson

4th Mamdouh Elssbiay (Big Ramy)

5th William Bonac

6th Roelly Winklaar

Australian Bodybuilders predictions for the 2016 Mr Olympia:

Mark Grechy Grech

1st – Phil Heath

2nd – Dexter Jackson

3rd – Josh Lenartowicz

4th – Shaun Rhoden

5th – Big Rammy

6th – Cedric McMillan

Dean McKillop

1^st– Phil Heath

2^nd– Shaun Rhoden

3^rd– Dexter Jackson

4^th– Mccarver

5^th– Justin Compton

6^th– Josh Lenartowicz

Aaron Curtis

1^st– Phil

2^nd– Dexter Jackson

3^rd– Big Ramy

4^th– Shaun Rhoden

5^th– Roelly Winklar

6^th– Josh Lenartowicz

Nathan James Williamson

1^st– Phil Heath

2^nd– Dexter Jackson

3^rd– Shaun Rhoden

4^th–  Big Ramy

5^th– Cedric McMilan

6^th– Josh Lenartowicz

Chris Chambers

1^st– Phil Heath

2^nd– Shaun Rhoden

3^rd– Big Rami

4^th– Dexter Jackson

5^th– Josh Lenartowicz

6^th– Cedric McMillan