With the recent completion of Mr. Olympia, the whole bodybuilding world came to a standstill. Hadi Choopan took home the ultimate prize, dethroning two-time defending champion Mamdouh Elssbiay a.k.a. Big Ramy. Besides the fame and glory, the Olympia winners also take home a hefty amount of prize money – one that has evolved leaps and bounds over the years. Let’s take a look at the evolution of the Mr. Olympia prize money, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Hadi Choopan.

Mr. Olympia was started by veteran bodybuilder and IFBB co-founder Joe Weider. He started it as a means for bodybuilders to compete somewhere other than the Mr. Universe contest (which was the biggest event then), and earn money. What started off as a means to financially support bodybuilders, turned into a Giga event that became the ultimate bodybuilding contest of all.

Why is Mr. Olympia the pinnacle of bodybuilding events, and how much Arnold Schwarzenegger won during his time

Chief Olympia Officer Dan Solomon said, “Despite constant changes in the global fitness community, we’ve remained laser-focused, growing the Olympia in every way possible, with increases in overall sponsorships, expo attractions, prize money, and stage production”. 

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Choopan won his first-ever Mr. Olympia title this year and took home a whopping $400,000. To put this in perspective, Arnold Schwarzenegger won his 1st Olympia title in 1970 and took home $1000. Furthermore, Larry Scott who won the 1st ever Olympia contest in 1965 also went home with $1000. Although a meager amount by today’s standards, it was a big boost for bodybuilders back then, to earn that amount from a competition.

Schwarzenegger had taken the bodybuilding world by storm with his arrival; one that lasted a decade. He went on to win a total of 7 Olympia titles (6 consecutively), with a temporary retirement in between.

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Schwarzenegger saw the prize money in Mr. Olympia and subsequently, the overall competition itself, grow substantially every year. However, the amount remained the same (i.e. $1000) for the first 5 times that Schwarzenegger won.

The evolution of Olympia prize money from Schwarzenegger to Choopan

The big change came in 1975 when the bar was raised to $2,500, followed by the next year, when it was doubled to $5000. In 1980, Schwarzenegger took home $25,000. A 25x increase in prize money, within a decade, was surely a sign of the growth of the contest that Weider had envisioned. True enough, in 2015 it reached $400,000 – an increase of 160 times in a span of 35 years. While the amount has since then remained the same, there is no doubt that it’s only going upward.

Besides Choopan, Big Ramy, who ended up at the 5th spot took home $30,000, while Brandon Curry at 4th spot took $40,000. The amount saw an increase in the 3rd spot with $100,000 which went to Nick Walker. Derek Lunsford ended up as the runner-up and took home a good $150,000.

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Bodybuilding is no longer in its nascent stage today and has found a global audience, with Olympia as its Holy Grail. How much do you think the prize money will amount to next year? And who do you think will claim it? Let us know below.