The God of Ebony

Sergio Oliva:

The cult to the human body is a trend in the history of mankind since ancient times. In the work The History of Beauty, Humberto Eco says that with Pythagoras a mathematical aesthetic vision of the universe emerges. Things are extended because they are ordered, it is then, that mathematical conditions become a premise for existence and beauty.

Charles Atlas became a model of that vision at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1922 the journal Physical Culture defines his body as the most perfect in the world. The strength of his image, conditions that many Cuban gyms in the fifties bear his name. He became a reference for many young people. Among them, the one of black skin, that without absenting a session, frequented every day the Atlas gym, located in his native Pinar del Río, close to the intersection of Maceo and Recreo streets.

On July 4, 1941, Sergio Oliva was born. His arrival in the world coincided with the Independence Day of the United States. From the first moment, Berto Llanes admired the strength of the boy who had natural talent for these sports. Berto el Negro, as they all called him, was his coach and that of young people such as Pepito Crespo, Sash Pérez or Roger González, who spent hours sculpting his figure, with the sole purpose of attracting the attention of young Pinar del Río girls.

In 1960 he leaves from Pinar del Río to Havana and settles in the neighborhood of Guanabacoa. It excels in the practice of lifting weights. In 1961 he was sent to train in the Soviet Union, being considered an Olympic promise. His excellent sports results allow him to integrate the team that represented Cuba in the Central American and Caribbean Games that took place, from August 15 to 30, 1962, in Kingston, Jamaica. There, he asks for political asylum in the US embassy along with other members of the delegation.

Aluding to this stage of his life, his son, the also bodybuilder Sergio Oliva Jr. says: He was born in poverty in Cuba, he only did until the third grade. His first jobs in this country were as a television technician and stevedore. He then traveled to Chicago, where he studied English at Wells High School. US citizenship was obtained while in that city. The jobs as a plumber and meat packer serve as sustenance. However, he does not give up in the search of his longed dream. When he is signed by Bob Gajda, he glimpses a path that leads him to success. Along with Gajda, he learned the training routines of bodybuilding, far from weightlifting.

Oliva's debut took place at the AAU. In that organization he had all the conditions to be crowned. However, it passes to the IFBB. In 1967 he obtained his first successes and since that year links a chain of victories: first as Mr. Universe and later Mr. Olympia. He won for three consecutive years: 1967, 1968, 1969. In that stage he receives the qualification that accompanied him throughout his life: The God of Ebony. Although the writer Rick Wayne preferred to call it The Myth, because he conceived it as the greatest phenomenon known in the so-called Weider generation. Its irruption supplants one of the legends in the history of bodybuilding: Larry Scott. The Cuban seemed invincible. Only Arnold Schwarzenegger could stand in his way, who was a figure promoted by Joe Weider himself and whom he had already defeated in 1969.

The mere presence of El Mito shook Arnold, inferior to a man who seemed possessed by Changó, Oggún and Orunlá. In the Mr. Olympia of 1970 the victory of Oliva seemed unobjectionable. A week before Arnold was petrified, to find the Cuban eating pizza and taking Coca Cola. Immersed in an epic duel, the Cuban loses the title. The vote was four to three and received the rejection of the attendees. Then, The God of Ebony said: I have great respect for Arnold as an athlete and for all his personal achievements, but the truth is that he did not win me in 1970 and not in 1972. They stole the title.

In the German competition of 1972, the discrepancies reappear. Arnold defeated Oliva. But it is assured that at the last moment of the vote Joe Weider changed the judges. According to some, the decision was conditioned by the racial issue, for others, by Weider's business vision. Arnold, as demonstrated, was an excellent source of profit. Although Oliva was in the best shape of his life and the dispute was so close, that for some, the rivalry was only comparable to the second time that Larry Scott defeated Harold Poole in Mr. Olympia.

I read an article in which an unauthorized biography of Schwarzenegger is cited. There is reviewed, that Oliva explained to Arnold his training system said: In the morning I train, in the afternoon I work in the foundry, and at night I take my wife to dance until dawn, as I did since I lived in Cuba . From his deep sense of humor, perhaps it reminded him, that while Arnold had a contract with Weider to train full time, he had to give himself twelve hours to work before entering the gym.

The disappointments are carried by various organizations. Among them WBBG and WABBA. He returns to the competitions in 1984 for Mr. Olympia. Oliva was then forty-three years old. Intervenes during two consecutive years and in both opportunities is located in the eighth place, results evaluated as memorable. Before leaving the world of muscles makes movies. In him he interprets the films The Temibles (1977) and Black Power (1973), this last one next to the Mexican fighter Aarón Rodriguez Arellano. However, the passage through the seventh art was brief and transited without sorrows or glories.

In his last years, the life of Sergio Oliva was concentrated in the police work in the city of Chicago. There they had to build a special uniform, because its dimensions are the human muscular limits. His wife Arleen Garrett impacts his body with five shots in 1986. However, Oliva's physical condition helped save his life. In January 1999 he was included in the Joe Weider Hall of Fame and in 2007 he was published in his biography entitled Sergio Oliva: The Myth, written by Frank Marchante.

On November 14, 2012, a renal deficit is needed. He was already seventy-one years old. When knowing his death, Schwarzenegger wrote in his Twitter account: he is one of the best bodybuilders of all time, a competitor with a strong personality.

When defining its greatness it sentenced:

Oliva almost pierced one with his gaze; His physique was so perfect, that anyone could doubt that he was looking at a human being.

While Lee Haney, one of the great bodybuilders in history, defined it this way:

Few men could have lived with a nickname like El Mito, but it was perfectly suited for Sergio. It was a legend and a part of history, with a combination of mass and shape that was placed in the future. I saw him for the first time in person when he made a comeback at Mister Olympia in 1984, which was my first victory. It may be that you have an impact, but as far as I'm concerned, no one could compare to your more muscular pose and especially your hands for your characteristic pose, which no one has been able to match more than forty years later. Sergio was completely unique, a natural wonder affected by God's own hand. It was an honor and a privilege to meet him in Las Vegas, several years ago, when Joe Weider joined all former Mr. Olympia champions for the event.

The history of the greatest bodybuilding figures, Ronald Coleman, Lee Haney, Lou Ferrino, Franco Columbu, Lee Labrada or Arnold Schwarzenegger, to name but a few. Sergio Oliva rose to a height unimaginable in his time the pursuit of human perfection and, perhaps, from the height of history, the idol of his childhood sighing to contemplate the God of Ebony, who every afternoon went out in his native Pinar The river, the meeting of the black, and the arrival to the gym, are in front of the photo of Charles Atlas, with the certainty of reaching the goal.

Bodybuilding titles achieved by Sergio Oliva
1963 Mr Chicago
1964 Mr Illinois
1964 7º en Mr América de la AAU
1965 2º en Mr America Junior de la AAU
1965 Mr America Junior de la AAU AAU, Más Muscular
1965 4º Mr America de la AAU
1965 Mr America de la AAU, Más Muscular
1966 Ganador Junior Mr America de la AAU
1966 Mr America Junior de la AAU, Más Muscular
1966 2º en Mr America de la AAU
1966 Mr America Junior de la AAU, Más Muscular
1966 Ganador general Mr Mundo de la IFBB
1966 Primero categoría alta Mr Mundo de la IFBB
1966 Ganador Mr Universo de la IFBB
1966 4º Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1967 Ganador Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1967 Ganadaor general Mr. Universo – IFBB
1968 Ganador Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1969 Ganador Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1970 2º Pro Alto Mr Mundo de la AAU
1970 2º Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1971 2º Alto Pro de la NABBA
1972 2º Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1973 1º Mr Internacional Profesional de la IFBB
1974 1º Mr Internacional Profesional de la WBBG
1975 Ganador Olympus de la WBBG
1976 Ganador Olympus de la WBBG
1977 1º Campeonato del Mundo Profesional de la WABBA
1978 Ganador Olympus de la WBBG
1980 1º Campeonato del Mundo Profesional de la WABBA
1981 Ganador de la Copa del Mundo Pro de la WABBA
1984 8º Mr. Olympia de la IFBB
1985 8º Mr. Olympia de la IFBB