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Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born on July 30, 1947 in Graz, the capital of Styria which is the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. Graz has six universities and a long tradition as a “university town”. Legendary physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla, best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system, studied electrical engineering at the Graz University of Technology in 1875. Schwarzenegger received his BA via correspondence courses from the University of Wisconsin–Superior in 1979.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s contest history is here.
Scroll to the Arnold Schwarzenegger Gallery here.
Schwarzenegger used to frequent movie theaters in Graz to see action heroes such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves, and Johnny Weissmuller on the big screen. To quote Schwarzenegger in 2000, “As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible, when others around me didn’t always understand my dreams. Steve Reeves has been part of everything I’ve ever been fortunate enough to achieve.” Schwarzenegger is also on record saying the following regarding Reg Park and Reeves, “I knew that would be me. I would look like Reg Park. I studied every move he made, every gesture. From that point on my life was utterly dominated by Reg Park. His image was my ideal. It was fixed indelibly in my mind. All my friends were more impressed by Steve Reeves, but I didn’t like him. Reg Park had more of a rough look, a powerful look, while Steve Reeves seemed elegant, smooth, polished. I knew in my mind that I was not geared for elegance. I wanted to be massive. It was the difference between cologne and sweat.”
Actually Steve Reeves is one of few and possibly the only bodybuilder who looked like he would later look when he was only 15 years old. Schwarzenegger trained to become what he was but Reeves was born that way. The following is a quote regarding Steve Reeves by bodybuilder and gym owner George Eiferman.
A few days before the (Mr. America) contest we heard rumors about a man who had throngs of people following him along the Lake Michigan beachfront, and we couldn’t imagine who could draw crowds by merely walking along the beach!
-George Eiferman, Mr. America
Steve Reeves played Hercules in 1958 and 1959. When Reeves moved on to other roles, Reg Park took over the Hercules role starting in 1961. Reeves and Park were bigger stars in Europe than in the United States. Reeves, at one point, was the highest-paid actor in Europe. Schwarzenegger identified more with Reg Park because he believed his build was similar to his own and looking like Reeves would be impossible. Park’s Hercules movies were, in my opinion, on par production-wise with Reeves’ Hercules movies. They were all Italian productions with some of the same crew. Read a Built Report article on Reg Park’s Hercules in the Haunted World here.
Schwarzenegger started lifting weights at around age 14 which would have been around 1961, which was the year that Reg Park began his movie career. A few years later in 1966, when Reg Park was doing a Wag Bennett produced exhibition in the UK, Schwarzenegger met Park who became his friend and mentor.
In 1970 Arnold Schwarzenegger defeated Reg Park at the NABBA Pro Mr Universe in London. This article contains a direct quote attributed to Arnold Schwarzenegger regarding being “the one to burst the Reg Park bubble” competition-wise, which was part of an article published in the May 1971 issue of Joe Weider’s Muscle Builder magazine. According to Reg Park’s son, Jon Jon, although Arnold admitted to taking steroids, his dad was “clean his whole career. He refused to subject himself to that.” Steve Reeves also stated that he never took steroids and if you look at early pictures of Reeves and see how far along he was at age 15, it is not too naive to believe that he may never have taken steroids. But let face it, even with steroids, some people are genetically suited to respond WAY better to them than others. So, someone with good natural genetics and good steroid response genetics will beat someone with good natural genetics but mediocre steroid response genetics. It still boils down to genetics on some level.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Bodybuilding Contest History
1966
Mr Europe (1), Winner
Mr Universe – NABBA, Tall, 2nd
1967
Mr Universe – NABBA, Tall, 1st
Mr Universe – NABBA, Overall Winner
1968
Universe – IFBB, 2nd
Universe – Pro – NABBA, Tall, 1st
Universe – Pro – NABBA, Overall Winner
1969
Mr Europe – IFBB, Tall, 1st
Mr Europe – IFBB, Overall Winner
Mr International – IFBB, Tall, 1st
Mr International – IFBB, Overall Winner
Olympia – IFBB, 2nd
Universe – IFBB, Overall Winner
Universe – IFBB, Tall, 1st
Universe – Pro – NABBA, Tall, 1st
Universe – Pro – NABBA, Overall Winner
1970
Olympia – IFBB, Winner
Universe – Pro – NABBA, Tall, 1st
Universe – Pro – NABBA, Overall Winner
Mr World – AAU, Pro Tall, 1st
Mr World – AAU, Professional Overall Winner
1971
Olympia – IFBB, Winner
1972
Olympia – IFBB, Winner
1973
Olympia – IFBB, Winner
1974
Olympia – IFBB, HeavyWeight, 1st
Olympia – IFBB, Overall Winner
1975
Olympia – IFBB, HeavyWeight, 1st
Olympia – IFBB, Overall Winner
1980
Olympia – IFBB, Winner
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