DEFEATING AN IDOL
(JUL98)
Reg Park, three-time Mr. Universe and a
screen Hercules of the '50s, was the young Arnold Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding
idol. "I would look at the magazines and visualize my head on Reg Park's
body," says Arnold. The two finally met in competition at the 1970 NABBA
Mr. Universe in London. Arnold was 23, Park 42, and fhe younger man won.
Twenty-seven years later, Arnold recalls the doy he beat his idol.
"When
I visualized my head on Reg Park's body, if was never in my thoughts that I
would one day compete against him or beat him. Such a plan was self- defeating
because it meant destroying my idol. However, in 1970, it was my doing that he
finished that contest not as the victor [Ialways perceived him as]. But in those
days, I was not a thinkin person; I was basically operating on instinct. My
instinct at that time was to win, eliminate anyone who is in competition,
destroy your enemy and move on without ony kind of hesitation at all.
"Obviously
it was a mistake on Reg Park's part to go into the competition - it was
unnecessary [for his reputation]. Going into the contest, he was my huge idol,
but afterward, he was still my idol, in that he was successful as a businessman,
as a family man and as a leader. I started to appreciate those things much more
later in life rather than at the time. So for me, Reg Park never last the status
of being a great man."
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