Victor Martinez weighs in on Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman’s recent criticism of Mr. Olympia Brandon champ Curry.
After Brandon Curry won the Mr. Olympia there was celebration. But shortly after there was criticism in the form of Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman. They believed that Brandon Curry couldn’t compete with the earlier era of bodybuilders. More specifically, they think he couldn’t even place top five. In a recent sit down interview with Victor Martinez, we asked him to weigh in with his thoughts of such harsh criticism of Brandon Curry.
To be a Mr. Olympia champion puts you on a special pedestal among all others. There have only been 15 different Olympia champions in the entire history of the sport as of this writing. A victory in this competition should be a glorious one – and yet Brandon Curry seems to have faced heavy criticism unlike many others.
Victor Martinez doesn’t see the value of comparing an Olympia champion to past eras. Or any bodybuilder to past eras for that matter. While he respects Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman as athletes and what they accomplished, he finds it unfair to single Brandon Curry out during a time when he should be on top of the world.
Victor also points out that the truth is many bodybuilders have faced controversies in each era – especially when it comes to winning major titles. He was involved in one himself in 2007, when he lost to Jay Cutler but many believed that he should have won.
Ultimately, Victor Martinez comes down on a key element that he believes must be why legends like Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman felt the need to say something – and it all comes down to conditioning. The level of conditioning during their time was on a whole other level and those standards still stay true in their mind. It’s not necessarily wrong to demand top quality – but as Victor put it himself: each Olympia champion was the best of who showed up that year. We can all speculate and compare different decades and years but since they didn’t actually all stand on the same stage together – we’ll never really be able to say with conviction who bests who.
Check out Victor’s entire thoughts on Brandon Curry as Olympia champion and the recent criticism of his physique in the GI Exclusive interview clip above!
