Bodybuilder Sergio Oliva dies.

Just saw this on the news tonight...

Retired Chicago cop, former bodybuilder dies.

tonyb.

Thanks for posting that, Tony.

I belonged to a weightlifting gym in NYC in the late Sixties/early Seventies. That era was the beginning of serious bodybuilding competition for big bucks. The gym subscribed to all the muscle mags. The top guys were Sergio, Ah-nuld and Lou Ferrigno, and I always thought Sergio was tops.

Alas, it was also the heyday of anabolic steroids. I wonder if they didn't contribute to Sergio's death.

He was 71 years-old and was said to be in good health and I have not heard any reports on a cause of death that would lead me to believe it was anything other than the proverbial "natural causes."

In another thread on bodybuilding, I mentioned seeing Oliva while he was on foot patrol as a Chicago police officer. This was in the 1990's...and his arms were still immense. When you see photographs of Oliva from his competitive days -- the 1970's and early 1980's -- every muscle groups appears to be so much larger on him than it did on any other bodybuilder. Can't say whether or not his size was the result of anabolic steroids...

...but if steroid use was widespread and unmitigated anywhere at a given point in time, it was in the worlds of bodybuilding and professional wrestling in that era...

tony b.

Yeah he was on steroids like all those guys, but they weren'tm actually illegal at the time. Also they weren't taking anything like as much or as varied types as the freak shows today, that's why people have a lot of love and respect for that golden generation.

They weren't classified as a controlled substance, though a prescription was required. The commercial product was called "Dianabol," and I remember seeing ads for it in the muscle mags.

"The Myth" will go on to be remembered as one the the greatest bodybuilders that ever lived, hands down!