It was forty years ago that
bodybuilding great Ed Corney first tasted the victory he would become
accustomed to throughout his career. Starting relatively late at age 33, Ed
took home his first, first place trophy at The Mr. Fremont Championships. He
eventually went on to win the 71 AAU Mr.California, 71 IFBB Mr.USA, and 72 IFBB
Mr.America and Mr.Universe titles.
Today at over 70 years old, he still
trains with a level of ferocity that many men half his age would admire. As one
of the first men, among several notables including the great Arnold
Schwarzenegger, to popularize bodybuilding in the 70's, Ed commands
a special place in the sports history.
But even with so many champions from
that era competing alongside him, Ed stood out in many ways. First of all there
was the posing, an aspect of bodybuilding that Ed revolutionized - his onstage
physical display was such that his routines from the 70's and early 80's are
still spoken of today.
Simply put, Ed presented himself
with a level professionalism that few in the sport have even come close to
replicating and his transitions between poses and the impact of the poses
themselves serve as inspiration for many today.
The popular 1976 bodybuilding film Pumping Iron captured Ed at his best, both as
a master-poser and hardcore champion. Who could forget the scene where he and
Arnold literally worked themselves to exhaustion at the squat rack?
Later in the film, the glimpse we
caught of Ed posing at the 1975 Mr.Olympia prejudging showed
just how flawless his posing really was. "Now that is what I call
posing," Arnold commented throughout this display.
That same year Ed displayed his
magnificent posing and physique alongside Arnold and Olympian in waiting, Frank
Zane, in the Articulate Muscle exhibition at The Whitney Museum of American
Art, a bodybuilding first that has not been done since.
Here Ed told all in attendance of
his underlying motivation for developing his physique:
"I look at myself as a piece of art. I have taken 20
years to develop my physical body into the shape it's in right now, and if that
isn't art, I don't know what art is."
In addition to his posing and onscreen popularity, Ed is famous for being one of the best short-class bodybuilders in the world, placing as high as 3rd overall in bodybuilding's biggest event, the Mr.Olympia.
The fact remains: his symmetry and size captured the interest of
bodybuilding fans everywhere. Then there is his longevity. Not simply content
to sit back and reflect on past glories, Ed has gone where few bodybuilding
pioneers have gone: to achieve recognition as the best over-60 bodybuilder in
the world through wins at both the 94 and 95 Masters Mr.Olympia.
Source: To read the whole interview,
click below:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson247.htm
