1970
IFBB Mr. Europe & 1971 IFBB Mr. Universe
The 1970 IFBB Mr. Europe segment runs approximately 20 minutes.
The 1971 IFBB Mr. Universe segment runs approximately 45 minutes. Music
soundtrack has been added. Photos by Benno Dahmen and courtesy the
IFBB.
1970 IFBB Mr.
Europe
This classic contest was held in
Essen, Germany in the magnificent and historic Saalbau Concert Hall, scene of
the triumph of Arnold over Sergio at the 1972 Mr. Olympia, and present host city
of FIBO. It was the highest standard Mr. Europe contest I have ever witnessed,
boasting a couple of competitors in Franco Columbu and Serge Nubret making it
worthy of an Olympia stage.
In the Short Class, Franco out-muscled his main rival, Europe’s Mr. Abdominals, Pierre Vandensteen from Belgium. The fantastic, rock hard and symmetrical physique of Giuseppe Deiana of Holland could only make 3rd place. He was a Mr. Universe class winner in 1971. Of note was Adolf Ziegner who was known for his massive arms at such a short height. Sort of an Austrian Lee Priest of his day!
Next the Medium Class. It was a well deserved victory for local hero, the shredded Gunter Heinlein over the more massive physique of Janko Rudman of Sweden.
In the Tall Class there was no doubt that Serge Nubret had the class victory as soon as he walked out on stage, he was so outstanding. Ripped as ever and with his classic lines, great abs and wonderful posing routine and stage presence. His nearest rival was the tall Austrian Karl Kainrath over his more massive countryman Harald Gobetz.
The 3 class winners are finally shown fighting it out in the posedown for the overall Mr. Europe title. That went to FRANCO COLUMBU by a very narrow margin over a magnificent Serge Nubret.
Overall Winner :
Franco Columbu
The 1971 IFBB Mr. Universe
Serge Nubret staged this event at the huge Palais De La Mutualite theatre in Paris, France. There were 53 competitors from 37 countries making this one of the most broadly represented event in years. The battled it out in front of a madly cheering sell-out crowd of 3000, many of whom had come to see Arnold, Sergio and Franco who were appearing later on the programme (and not part of this DVD). *Sergio's posing will appear in the SERGIO OLIVA "THE MYTH" SUPER TAPE DVD in 2008 when editing has been completed. Arnold's posing will be included in a new DVD yet to be produced.
In the short class it was a classic battle between Renato Bertagna of Italy – a smaller (white) version of Sergio Oliva’s physique, and the super symmetrical and hewn out of granite physique of Italian-born Dutchman Giuseppe Deiana.
In the medium class it was an amazing 3-way battle between Ed Corney of USA - at his very peak, Al Beckles of England – a legend with much more than the most amazing the biceps in the world, and the ripped and rock-hard slab of muscular beef from Turkey – Ahmet Enunlu. Another very popular with the fans was Serge Jacobs of Belgium.
Finally in the tall class it was another battle between the handsome, ripped and elegant physique of Karl Bloemer of Germany, charismatic fellow German Helmut Riedmeier. It seemed to me that Helmut found more favour with the judges than Mike Katz of USA whose placing greatly upset the fans. Vic Downs from Canada was another who was extremely popular with the fans.
It was controversy time when the results were announced for the Medium Class. Pandemonium broke loose with booing, jeering and absolute crowd rage. It was the most forceful display of audience crowd anger I have subsequently seen in my 44 years of attending physique contests. This was triggered by Al Beckles being called in 2nd place with Enunlu announced as the winner. The rage continued unabated and it appeared that things may even turn ugly.
The judges wisely announced that Al Beckles
would be added to the 3 class winners – Enunlu, Bloemer and Deiana for the
overall judging and posedown. Not surprisingly Beckles won the overall title of
IFBB Mr. Universe for 1971 in a very fair and correct verdict with Enunlu
graciously handing over his class winner’s trophy to Beckles in a very nice
touch of sportsmanship. Runner up overall was Bloemer, with Deiana 3rd and
Enunlu 4th. Later on in the programme there was more controversy, but that is
another story.
The 1971
IFBB Mr. Universe Results
Tall Class:
1 Karl Bloemer (Germany)
2 Helmut Riedmeier (Germany
3 Mike Katz (United States)
4 Francois Labrador (France)
5 Vic Downs (Canada)
6 Abdul El Guindi (Egypt)
Medium Class:
1 Albert Beckles (England)
2 Ahmet Enünlü (Turkey)
3 Ed Corney (United States)
4 Abbas Al Hindawi (Iraq)
5 Serge Jacobs (Belgium)
6 Khaled Baynakalar (Lebanon)
Short Class:
1 Giuseppe Deiana (Netherlands)
2 Renato Bertagna (Italy)
3 Hubert Plumanns (Belgium)
4 Talib Shehab (Iraq)
5 Tony Lamouche (France)
6 Atan Parolay (Turkey)
Overall Winner : Albert
Beckles
Running time: 65 mins
* Available in NTSC DVD Only (Region Free)
* THIS DVD
WILL PLAY ON ANY DUAL SYSTEM NTSC / PAL DVD PLAYER AND TV. Or any PC
DVD.
