Paul Dillett believes that the other divisions outside of Men’s Open should not be part of the Mr. Olympia competition.
Last week, we released a vault interview of Jay Cutler stating his biggest issue with the Olympia weekend competition. Specifically, he felt other divisions outside of the Men’s Open should have a different title other than Olympia – to separate it from the one true Mr. Olympia champion. It appears that he’s not alone in that thought. Paul Dillett seems to not only agree but also take it a step further. In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Paul Dillett explains why he believes that there should be no other divisions except Men’s Open at the Mr. Olympia.
The Mr. Olympia competition has gone through many changes over the past years. New divisions continue to be brought into the fold and AMI recently sold the entire competition to Jake Wood earlier in 2020. This has led many fans and bodybuilders to wonder – is the quality of the Mr. Olympia lessening? Or is this simply the start of a new and improved future for the biggest competition of the year?
We asked this very question to Paul Dillett during our video interview. Has the Olympia competition lost its luster over the years? For Dillett there’s no question – he 100% believes that the Olympia no longer means what it used to mean. His main reasoning? Dillett thinks that the inclusion of other divisions has watered down the quality of what it means to be Mr. Olympia – especially the Men’s Physique division.
“I don’t think the Olympia means what it used to mean. No chance,” Paul Dillett says in our interview. He continues:
“You look at the Olympia before and look at the Olympia now. It’s not the same thing. It’s not. It’s just not the same thing, you know? I feel like it’s been watered down. There was one Mr. Olympia. That’s it… We didn’t need expos, we didn’t need Bikini girls, we didn’t need guys coming out with shorts down to their knees. I’m sorry. That’s laughable to me… I can’t call you Mr. Olympia when you come out with shorts down to your knees.”
Those are some pretty harsh words directed at the Men’s Physique division. Vlad Yudin followed up asking Dillett if he doesn’t like Men’s Physique. Dillett clarifies that he believes the Men’s Physique athletes are very talented and bring an amazing package. He just doesn’t understand why they cover up their legs. He further explains that Men’s Physique bodybuilders don’t need mass monster legs, but should still show off their upper leg muscles.
But while Paul Dillett focused on Men’s Physique initially, he further states that the problem isn’t just one division. The problem is folding all of the divisions under one title of the Olympia. Dillett goes into more detail:
“Mr. Olympia should be Mr. Olympia. It shouldn’t be watered down with this, that, or that. Not taking anything away from these kids who have these amazing physiques… I feel like they should have had their own title that identifies them and their era, you know? And leave Mr. Olympia as bodybuilding. This is bodybuilding. So there’s no confusion.”
These are very similar words to Jay Cutler from our previous GI Exclusive Vault interview. But whereas Jay Cutler wanted to find some way to differentiate the title names, it seems Dillett wants the divisions to each have their own distinct competition completely separate from the Olympia. Each division with their own weekend, their own title, their own massive event.
You can watch Paul Dillett’s full comments in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above.
