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The 2008 Mr. Olympia is now history and the symmetry lovers in world of bodybuilding are celebrating because Dexter Jackson dethroned two-time defending champ, Jay Cutler! A new era in IFBB Pro Bodybuilding has arrived! It was a shocking and surprising moment in the history of the Mr. Olympia when Bob Cicherillo announced Dexter Jackson as the winner of the 2008 Mr. Olympia. The crowd erupted into raucous cheers as Dexter knelt down in disbelief and was overcome with emotions. The Mr. Olympia theme song began playing throughout the Orleans Arena and it seemed unreal and dreamlike when Cutler exited the stage and Dexter remained clutching his Sandow trophy tightly.
Dexter Jackson walked down the hallway of the Orelans hotel in a tailor-made suit and he looked the sharpest and happiest I've ever seen him. His gait was one of confidence as his fiancé walked next to him proudly. Dexter was on his way to the Mardi Gras Room where the Olympia Gala was being held - in his honor! Most of the people in attendance had already eaten and the Flex Magazine achievement awards had already been given out, but everyone was very forgiving of the tardiness when the sharply dressed new Mr. Olympia - our next ambassador for pro bodybuilding- entered the room to celebrate his victory. A moment of silence and the show must go on. The 2008 Mr. Olympia was dedicated to Steve Stone, who suddenly died Friday afternoon at the Las Vegas Convention Center during the Olympia Expo. After a moment of silence, his wife, Andrea, was accompanied to the stage by Steve Weinberger and Jim Manion near the beginning of the Saturday night show. Andrea accepted a lifetime achievement award from the IFBB on Steve's behalf.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Myron Mielke & Dexter Jackson Outside The Gala. The night began with encouraging messages from Joe and Ben Weider to all the people in our world of bodybuilding. It was good to see Joe walking on stage again after his back surgery a couple years ago. David Pecker was introduced and he had an exciting announcement for everyone. The Joe Weider World Cup, with an Expo to be held in conjunction with it, will be held Berlin in October of 2009, which is one week after next year's Mr. Olympia. The competition will be the largest of its kind ever promoted in Europe. Because there were fewer competitors than the last few years, each competitor came out to perform their individual routines. (If there are more than 20 competitors in the competition, the field is narrowed to the top fifteen and only those athletes perform their routines.)
2. Jay Cutler 3. Phil Heath 4. Dennis Wolf 5. Toney Freeman 6. Melvin Anthony 7. Silvio Samuel 8. Dennis James 9. Mo Elmoussawi 10. Gustavo Badell 11. Darrem Charles 12. Johnnie Jackson 13. Craig Richardson 14. Ronny Rockel 15. David Henry 16. Kevin English 17T. Fouad Abiad 17T. Sergey Shelestov 17T. Leo Ingram
Gustavo always looks like a real competitor as he moves around the stage with an intense look on his face. I'm sure he was hoping to place higher than he did, but I think 10th was a gift. This is probably the worst I've seen him and I was surprised Darrem Charles was not ahead of him in the final placings.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Gustavo Baddell At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Gustavo Baddell At The 2008 Olympia. View Gustavo Baddell's Posing Routine Here.
Mo definitely deserved his 9th place finish and really made a good showing at his first Olympia. Later in the evening he won the Most Improved Athlete award by Flex Magazine at the Olympia Gala.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Moe Elmoussawi At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Moe Elmoussawi At The 2008 Olympia. View Moe Elmoussawi's Posing Routine Here.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Dennis James At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Dennis James At The 2008 Olympia. View Dennis James's Posing Routine Here.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Silvio Samuel At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Silvio Samuel At The 2008 Olympia. View Silvio Samuel's Posing Routine Here.
The ladies in front of me were cheering and hootin' and hollerin'. When he did his trademark limbo pose, they screamed wildly. The ladies just love Melvin.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Melvin Anthony At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Melvin Anthony At The 2008 Olympia. View Melvin Anthony's Posing Routine Here.
Toney was in fabulous shape and he knew it. The crowd knew it right away. He had the crowd eating out of his hand from the beginning of his routine. The fans at the Orleans Arena loved the X-Man. Freeman absolutely looked nothing like he did last year - except for being the same height maybe. Toney was shredded and he looked like he was on his way to a top-five finish without seeing any of the other competitors.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Toney Freeman At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Toney Freeman At The 2008 Olympia. View Toney Freeman's Posing Routine Here.
I'm not really sure what cheese bread is but I thought it must be close to pizza, so I had a huge slice of ham and pineapple pizza at the Olympia Gala to make sure I didn't look depleted after running around covering all the events for Bodybuilding.com this weekend. I was a little disappointed with the way Dennis looked. Don't get me wrong. I thought he looked great. He made improvements. His conditioning was scary, but like I said before, he looked over-dieted and tired. Listening to Chad Nichols on PBW, I expected to see the most incredible sight ever to step on an Olympia stage.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Dennis Wolf At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Dennis Wolf At The 2008 Olympia. View Dennis Wolf's Posing Routine Here.
But in all fairness, if he stays injury-free, he will win one. Give him another year or two to keep on growing and filling out, and no one will beat him. I don't think Victor would have beat Heath at the 2008 Olympia had he competed.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Phil Heath At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Phil Heath At The 2008 Olympia. View Phil Heath's Posing Routine Here.
It looked noticeably smaller. I've heard people's critique on Jay's physique and they mention the symmetry issue with his legs. I've never really noticed it that much, but for some reason it was apparent to me because the difference in size just seemed to pop out. Since Jay came down a bit and was a bit sharper, I assumed we would have a repeat of last year. Jay would retain his title by being the biggest despite his inferior conditioning compared to a few of the other competitors.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Jay Cutler At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Jay Cutler At The 2008 Olympia. View Jay Cutler's Posing Routine Here.
Most thought Dexter SHOULD win but felt Jay WOULD win. Seeing Dexter overcome with joy, relief and the feeling of accomplishment when his name was announced as Mr. Olympia was incredible. You could see it hit him and then, immediately, he knew what it meant to be Mr. Olympia.
  Click Image To Enlarge.Dexter Jackson At The 2008 Olympia. View More Pics Of Dexter Jackson At The 2008 Olympia. View Dexter Jackson's Posing Routine Here.
I was very excited as the placements were announced. Both in my preview article and my judging recap, I had predicted Freeman or Melvin would be fifth. Wolf would take fourth. Heath would be third. I thought to myself, "Oh yeah. I know my stuff. This is going to be great!" And then Big Bob goes and announces Dexter Jackson as the winner and wrecks everything. Seriously, I was very happy for Dexter and the final results. It was one of the best things that could have happened for our sport.
So what was different this year? Personally, I thought Jay was in decent enough shape to win. He wasn't as bad as last year, but not as good as 2006 and nowhere near the phenomenal shape he was in at the 2001 Olympia. People are still raving about his conditioning at that show. Not to take anything away from Dexter, but I think one small contributing factor was not having big Ronnie Coleman in the show this year. Ronnie got so big that he was nearing the 300-pound mark and Jay started chasing him to try and play Ronnie's game. Jay seemed to be the only guy who was able to play that game and eventually won - twice! But this year, Ronnie wasn't there and Cutler's physique looked, well, almost out of place.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Cutler's Physique Looked Out Of Place. Melvin Anthony, with his tiny wasp-like waist was in the top six and so was Toney Freeman whose nickname is the X-man because of his symmetrical x-frame. Dennis Wolf looks like a powerful superhero on stage and then there was "The Gift" who has been blessed with an absolutely beautiful structure. The last guy in the group was Dexter Jackson and he had won every pro show (except the Olympia) because of his superior shape and conditioning. In this group Cutler looked huge, really huge. He seemed actually too big this year and his conditioning wasn't exactly stunning either.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Dexter Jackson Had Won Every Pro Show Because Of His Superior Shape & Conditioning. Jay looked "okay" and the judges picked up on that. If he would have looked like he did in 2006 for the Olympia in 2007 and then again in 2008, Jay might have had three wins, but two off years wasn't allowable in the eyes of the judges - especially since Dexter looked so darn good. I also thought Phil Heath looked really good. He has a great God-given structure and he's done his part by putting in lots of hard work to chisel his body to near perfection. Since I thought Jay was going to win, I was going back and forth thinking that Phil might place second in front of Dexter who would then take third.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Phil Heath Has Done His Part By Putting In Lots Of Hard Work. I thought it was very close between the two. After the show I started thinking, "Why did Dexter place ahead of Jay and Phil did not?" What was the reason for that? The similarity in the style of those physique can't be denied. After all, many people were wondering before the show if Phil might place ahead of Dexter. I happened to see John Balik before the Gala and asked him who he liked in the show and his pick was Phil Heath. Just his opinion he said. So apparently I'm not the only person with this question.
Dexter will most likely defend his title next year. It will not be an easy defense because of Phil Heath's strong third-place finish at his first Mr. Olympia. Don't forget Victor Martinez. He will be back, but he will need to re-qualify for the 2008 Mr. Olympia. Victor has defeated Dexter in the past and has the potential to do it again. Imagine an Olympia with Dexter, Phil and Victor. That would be like an Olympia with Flex, Shawn and Kevin without Dorian. Oh wait. Cutler's probably still thinking about getting that third Sandow trophy for his office podium. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for the 2009 Mr. Olympia. Man, this is gonna be good!
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