In the magnificent world of bodybuilding, often one moment of transformation defines a legendary career. This is exactly what happened to Dorian Yates in Night of Champions in Manhattan back in 1990—this day marked the start of the journey of the sixth-time Mr. Olympia winner. The icon, also known as the Shadow, reiterated the event that changed his life. Once, he met the founder of Mr. Olympia, Joe Wider. In a recent podcast with Tom Platz, the very start of the podcast was about the legendary founder of the competition.

Yates and Platz recalled how the legend had transformed the face of bodybuilding forever, made it a commercial success, and was also a champion in the world of sports.

Joe Weider made bodybuilding look se*y

The Shadow was asking The Golden Eagle how he got into bodybuilding, and Platz answered that when he was nine years old, she would go to the nearest drugstore and see the magazine rack. There were magazines about bodybuilders, and that is when he found Draper and was fascinated by him. The nine-year-old boy was convinced after seeing the magazine that he was going to become a bodybuilder, and that is exactly what he became.

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This is when Yates also talked about the magazines and how Joe Weider transformed what bodybuilding was all about. He said, “I had all the older Iron Man magazines. They were packed with, like, practical factual information and stuff like that, so in a way, they were better and more informative. But what Joe did was he made bodybuilding look, sexy he made it look cool, and it wasn’t like that before.”

Read More: “First Will Always Be My Favourite”: Despite Winning Six Olympia Titles, Dorian Yates Makes Startling Confession About His Winning Streak

Joe Weider built his empire in the bodybuilding world by drawing day and night since he was a child to immigrant parents. He made his own magazine and also promoted his machine through it. In 1942, Joe began selling Weider-brand weight sets and had catalog pictures in his self-curated magazine. He was a one-man employee in his own company, and the headquarters was his living room. But after the launch of Muscle Power, he started gaining momentum, and the rest is history. He not only made himself famous but also gave legendary bodybuilders the position that they have today, and one of them is Dorian Yates.

The 1990 Night of the Champions made Dorian Yates the Shadow

He always fondly recalls the night of the champions and the bustling crowd in New York. The vocal nature of the audience in New York had caught the British bodybuilder off guard. Yates, who was known for his incredible physique and stage presence, gave it his all.

The crowd was smitten by him; however, he did not win and lost to Mohamed Benaziza. However, the loss was not compared to the achievement that he was going to have in a moment. “So I got second in that contest to Mohamed Benaziza. And Weider must have seen something in me that was unique because I got invited out to Venice, California, to do the shoots for the Weider magazines at the Gold’s gym. And everybody built a stream at that point,” said the ‘Mass Monster’.

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This is when his career took off, and he became one of the most famous bodybuilders of all time. What do you think about the contribution of Joe Weiderin to the bodybuilding world?