Phil Heath

Mr. Olympia 2011 Results: Phil Heath Breaks Old Trends as New Champion

while it's an individual competition, the Mr. Olympia Contest has taken on something of a dynastic feel through its history.

Very few winners of the competition have been one-time champions. Of course, the most well known is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before being an actor and governor of California, Schwarzenegger won the contest every year between 1970 and 1975.

Phil Heath's 2011 win ends the run of success that Jay Cutler (no relation to the quarterback) had enjoyed at the Mr. Olympia contests. Cutler won in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

Before that, it was Ronnie Coleman from 1999 to 2005. Most of the 1990s contests were won by Dorian Yates, while Lee Haney dominated from the mid 1980s through the early 1990s.

What does that all mean for Heath? Directly, it means nothing. Still, it suggests that he'll be on top for a while.

The Sporting News reported that Heath used to play college basketball. As you can see in that picture, he's put on quite a bit of muscle in the years that have passed.

But does this indicate a changing of the guard in the sport, or is Heath just a one-year wonder?

Heath will be 32 at the end of the year while Cutler is 38, so Heath has that going for him. Cutler was the runner-up to Heath in 2011, so it does indicate something of a new order in the sport.

Given his background as a basketball player and former high school teammate of Jamal Crawford, there is enough appeal there to attract casual viewers to Heath. It’s not that bodybuilding will ever be a mainstream sport, but he’s got the resume to be as big of a star as anyone before him has been.

To do that, he’ll first have to win multiple times.

Now, he probably won’t go on to enjoy the kind of success that Schwarzenegger has had, but Heath has the makings of being the sport’s biggest star since then.