You read that right. Less than three weeks from now, on September 9, I will be firing up Etta, my sleek, silver Corolla S, and driving 2100km down the Veteran's Memorial Highway to Las Vegas for the 2011 Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Competition.
The culture of bodybuilding has fascinated me since I started lifting weights six years ago. The behavior I've seen in the gym, from simple preening to grunting that would make a rutting bull in the next room say, "There must be something serious going on over there", is as strange as it is hard to ignore. Documentaries like Pumping Iron & books like Harrison Pope's The Adonis Complex - presenting as they do a world teeming with insecurity, neurosis and human bodies pushed to extreme - have only cemented that fascination.
Now I've decided to take in that world's biggest event - the Joe Weider Olympia Weekend 2011 at the Orleans Hotel & Las Vegas Convention Center. My Silver VIP Package (keep your remarks to yourself) secures me access & reserved seating as follows:
- Early Entry to Meet The Olympians - Thursday, Sept. 15, 7 PM
- Olympia Weekend Expo - Early Entry - Friday, Sept. 16, 9:30 AM - 5 PM
- Olympia Weekend Expo - Early Entry - Saturday, Sept. 17, 9:30 AM - 5 PM
- Fitness / Figure / Bikini/ Ms. Olympia Judging - Friday, Sept. 16, 10:30 AM
- Fitness Olympia Finals/Ms. Olympia Finals/Mr. Olympia Judging - Friday, Sept. 16, 7 PM
- Olympia 202 Showdown - Reserved Seating - Saturday, Sept. 17, 10:30 AM
- 202 Showdown / Figure Olympia Finals / Mr. Olympia Finals - Saturday, Sept. 17, 7 PM
- Olympia Victory Gala, Saturday, Sept. 17, 11 PM
From my base of operations at the Circus, Circus Hotel & Casino I will be blogging events, uploading photos and generally trying to make sense of it all at largelythetruthmrolympia.wordpress.com. You can also keep up with events via my twitter account @largelythetruth.
Meet Your Olympians:
Jay Cutler
Kai Greene
Phil Heath
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