The height of perfection.

Winning any athletic contest is a bench mark for the professional athlete. On the road to victory it’s the hunger and drive that pushes people forward. It’s after winning top honors, however, where many people tend to slip off. That hunger that had once given them the drive to achieve greatness suddenly dissipates leaving them feeling like they’ve reached the summit of the mountain and have no other reason to move forward. But that isn’t true of all athletes. In fact, many champions use a dominating win to push them to achieve further greatness.

There have been many individuals who have won the Olympia competition before only to relinquish the title of champion the following year. There are many factors involved in the loss of the title, but a lot of it has to do with the loss of the fire to prove yourself. But there are those who have dominated the competition and would use that momentum to continuously top their own performances. One former champion comes to mind as an individual that attained greatness and refused to let it go.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been pegged for greatness early on and when he came in as a close second to Sergio Oliva in the 1969 Mr. Olympia, onlookers were sure that they were witnessing a future champion in the making. After coming in first at the 1970 Mr. Olympia, Arnold effectively had a stranglehold on the open weight division and refused to relinquished it.

The 1971 Olympia was an event mired in controversy due to many of the contestants being disqualified. Despite that, Arnold competed albeit unopposed. Nevertheless, “The Austrian Oak” looked as impressive as ever and there was no doubt that he would’ve taken the number one spot that year, opposed or not. Take a look at the video of his impressive showing as well as some guest posing from greats Franco Columbu and Sergio Oliva.

Was this one of Arnold’s more impressive showings? Let us know in the comments and forums. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.