Before he became a movie star and then a politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger made his name internationally as a bodybuilder. He climbed the ranks from 1965 to 1970, and won international championships over and over from 1970 to 1975. Then he retired from bodybuilding to focus on his fledgling career in film. In 1980, he had to go back into training to bulk up for Conan the Barbarian.
The 1980 Mr. Olympia contest in Australia was just around the corner, and Arnold was asked to host the event, but he had other plans. One day before the contest — and to the dismay of the other competitors — Arnold announced himself as a part of the competitive field. Other bodybuilders like Mike Mentzer and Boyer Coe took offense to the 11th hour placement of Schwarzenegger, citing that he should have had to register months in advance like the rest of them. Ben Weider took the competitors into a private room at the Sydney Opera House to hear their complaints, but it was made official at the end of the meeting: Arnold would compete.
The other competitors were shocked and upset, as they had to register for the competition months earlier. But that wasn’t the only strange thing about the competition. Read the rest of the story at Uproxx.