Could Kai Greene’s attitude have prevented a first place win?

This article was originally posted on Olympia Weekend 2014… but in light of the recent controversies from Olympia 2015 it seemed timely to repost it as a throwback.

It’s no secret that Kai Greene and Phil Heath take digs at each other. They are rivals through and through – and we love that. It creates energy. It builds drama. It makes those last moments on stage even more exciting.

But this year took it to a new level. Kai, who is usually a thoughtful speaker, unleashed his new sharpened teeth at Phil Heath – digging down deeper at every turn. Many of you have probably already seen the press conference where Kai interrupted Phil and dismissed the passing of his father this year.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Friday took things to even more intense levels during the Mr. Olympia prejudging. It started off as usual, Kai and Phil elbowing each other. Getting too close and trying to show dominance. But then Kai suddenly snapped, abandoned his pose and got right up into Phil’s face.

Was a fight going to break out? Was this rivalry going to turn into an all out brawl of hatred? In the end no punches were thrown and they were quickly separated and forced to switch places in line (with Dennis Wolf getting stuck in between them who could care less about their rivalry).

It was all certainly exciting stuff, but the real question is – was it worth it for Kai? Say what you will about Phil and his confidence (or ego to some) but his jabs at Kai are mostly just that, competitive remarks. This weekend Kai made it a bit more personal and called out Phil unprovoked and was confident to the point of being cocky.

Much like when Kai signed his name as “Mr. Olympia” – he’s shooting himself in the foot. Being cocky only works if you actually win, and Kai Greene can win but when you make a scene on the stage and have never won a Sandow trophy – it comes across more whiney than badass.

High intensity competition brings out a lot of emotions in the athletes. They sometimes say or do things without realizing how it will be perceived by everyone else. Was Kai Greene truly awful in his words? No, not really. But in a sport where you win or lose based on judges, how they perceive you is a very important factor.

Should Kai Greene have won? That’s hard to say. He definitely looked better than he ever has, but that doesn’t mean that Phil Heath didn’t deserve his fourth trophy. Maybe it had nothing to do with Kai’s outspoken words. Maybe he would have lost either way.

All we know is one thing, it was pretty damn entertaining.

Make sure to take a look at all of our Olympia coverage from the weekend right here to get an inside look into Mr. Olympia 2014. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for constant updates on all things bodybuilding. Stay pumped.

Cover photo credit: Bill Comstock

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