The moment it happened back in February I developed cold feet about commenting on the up-coming/just concluded ‘Mr. O’ (Olympia).
I saw it coming. Samson may have seen it too. But his action or reaction or inaction didn't help matters.
He didn't look hungry. He looked like he was contented with being a one-time Mr. O.
Every bodybuilding aficionado knows that the AC has become the next most prestigious bodybuilding event after the Mr. O. Over the years, the same AC appears to parade a line-up of contestants, who are either, majorly from the last Mr. O or most of those who already have automatic qualification for the next Mr. O. As if that's not enough, most AC winners have ended up winning the Mr. O, same year they won the AC. A few examples will suffice here.
Derek Lunsford won the AC in 2023 and went on to be crowned Mr. O 2023.
Our own Samson won the AC in 2024 and eventually won Mr. O 2024.
You call those coincidences?
There are many more I can't mention here because I don't want to do a lengthy piece. Now, have there been occasions where an AC winner lost the Mr. O crown same year? Yes! There are. But they are getting fewer and far in between. Now, let's look at the promoters and founders. And who founded Mr. Olympia? The one and only Joe Weider of blessed memory:
Trainer of champions since 1936;
Founder of the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness (IFBB) - the biggest and dominant bodybuilding federation with affiliate nations cutting across the globe;
Founder of the Weider Research Institute;
Founder of Weider sports equipment;
Founder of Weider supplements;
Bestselling author;
Print media mogul;
Creator of the bestselling and most copied bodybuilding course.
Now, who is the founder and promoter of AC? The almighty Arnold Schwarzenegger:
7x Mr. Olympia;
Multiple times Mr. Universe;
Multiple times Mr. Europe;
Plus several other national titles;
Former governor of California;
Hollywood action megastar;
Best-selling author;
Real estate mogul;
The star of the movie, "Pumping Iron" which is considered instrumental in popularizing the sport of bodybuilding;
Founder of Arnold Sports Weekend (considered the biggest sporting event after the Olympics);
A staunch Republican;
Once considered the world's best-built man;
Once a member, American President's council on fitness.
Arnold’s profile is intimidating. Now what does it tell you? Arnold is arguably the most powerful and influential personality as far as bodybuilding and fitness on planet earth is concerned. He is a mover and shaker. A man of timber and calibre. He can ‘do and undo’. So it's no surprise that his show, Arnold Classic, is giving Mr. O a run for its money.
The profiling I have done here is in the public domain. So why didn't Samson shield himself and play the game with the shrewdness it deserves?
Until 2024, the top 5 at the Mr. O got automatic qualification for the next Mr. O. So wetin carry Samson, reigning Mr. O, go compete for AC 2025 (translation: why did Samson, who was the reigning Mr. O, bother to compete at the Arnold Classic)? What was he looking for there? Why give them the chance to compare/mess you up again with a line up you eclipsed just four months ago? A month before Mr. O 2025, I read somewhere that Samson had sealed a sponsorship deal with a UK company. Upon arriving Nevada for the Mr. O, he was spotted wearing a branded hoody of the said company. My question was: since when did Britain edge out the US and become the bodybuilding and fitness capital of the world?
The promoters, sponsors and partners are all mostly US based. You are not affiliated to them, but you want to come from Britain and collect another $600k and go back to promote a British company? Guy, ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ (translation: reaping where another has sown) no dey work for this street (translation: won’t work in this situation). Every promoter, sponsor or partner, to some extent, lobbies in order to have their athlete emerge the winner.
After every Mr. O, the winner is usually busy for the first two or three months, as he embarks on a world tour for pre-scheduled conferences and seminars. This can be extremely tiring and physically draining, especially after the months it took to prep for Mr. O. But as if this was not enough, Samson was everywhere. He began installing a hardcore gym... was training openly where every Tom, Dick and Harry could have access to him and even record his routines. Every single one of his moves and appearances flooded social media. Invincibility and inaccessibility were thrown out the window.
During Ronnie Coleman's reign, a time came when he had to arrange to train in a gym all alone assisted by Robert Lee. Bodybuilding writers, who flew in from different parts of the world, were moving from one city to the other looking for him. It took days before they located him in a crumbling gym, somewhere in Arlington, Texas, a place with very bad roads and reserved for mechanic workshops. What was Coleman doing? He was building his power and enigma by reducing public appearances to the barest minimum. Even when he was the reigning king, he was always all business during each Olympia press conference.
He never smiled unnecessarily...
He answered questions with one-liners...
He never once removed his tracksuit to pose before fellow competitors, thereby showcasing his package. But Samson was the exact opposite in all of these scenarios. Abeg (translation: please)! Can someone give me a better definition of "see finish " (translation: familiarity breeds contempt) here?
Anyway, all this notwithstanding, the whole show ended up a daylight robbery for our two Nigerian sportsmen... Samson and Andrew Jacked. That Sandow is supposed to be in the custody of Andrew 'Jacked' Chinedu Obiekea, as Mr. O 2025. Samson Dauda perfectly belonged in the number 2 position. Yes, he lost a lot muscle mass, but he is still better than Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford. Choopan would have made an acceptable 3rd place. He is dry to the bones and paper-thin skinned. But his forearms are subpar.
Derek Lunsford had no business whatsoever being crowned Mr O 2025. The level of his conditioning was shameful, to put it mildly. Even non-muscle heads can see it clearly.
NB: This is not an attempt to belittle Samson or Andrew Jacked, the very first Nigerians that have made us proud at the Olympia level. I have the utmost respect for these guys. And will continue to. But then prepping for a show as huge and complex as the Mr. O is extremely challenging and tough. It's possible they were overwhelmed with the prep. I can understand. This is where the coach/manager pulls his or her weight. Samson's wife and coach did a fantastic job in 2024. It's obvious she concentrated her efforts at getting him ripped to the bones, working in the trenches. And it paid off as a first-time Mr. O. But retaining the title requires a network that takes one outside the trenches. I guess the realization came a little bit late, when any form of amendments was impossible.
What I have posted here is my one penny observation from the side-lines... my very own little attempt at analysing the visible pitfalls that appeared to have been overlooked, preparatory to hitting the stage. We must remember that winning the Mr. O is sometimes easier than retaining it. Once clinched, an all-new set of unwritten rules come into play for its retention.
Train smart, eat clean, grab sufficient sleep!
Steve Ndukuba
*Mr. Ndukuba writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He describes himself as a “down-in-the-trench, where-theories-meet-practice” ISSA-certified master trainer, a performance nutrition specialist and a muscle-building, fat-burn and libido-boosting supplements alchemist. He can be reached via email: steveuba@gmail.com and Facebook: Steve Ndukuba.
Samson Dauda lost his Olympia title this year to Derek Lunsford (shown here), who reclaimed the title he first won in 2023
Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and Joe Weider (right) are two of the most influential figures in the history and evolution of organized competitive bodybuilding
