The 2022 Olympia scheduled for Dec. 16-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV, will once again miss Sadik Hadzovic. The Men’s Physique and Classic Physique competitor qualified to make his return to the Men’s Physique division in 2022 via his win at the 2022 Pittsburgh Pro.
However, on Dec. 6, 2022, just 10 days before the 2022 Olympia, Hadzovic took to his Instagram to state that he would not compete in Las Vegas.
I know many of you were excited to see me back at this year’s Olympia. Unfortunately, I will not be competing.
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According to the Mr. Olympia website, the following athletes are qualified for the 2022 Men’s Physique Olympia:
2022 Men’s Physique Olympia Roster
- Riccardo Croci (Italy)
- Jahvair Mullings (USA)
- Bhuwan Chauhan (India)
- Terrence Teo Kok Hua (Malaysia)
- Yousef Al Shaban (Kuwait)
- Ryan Terry (UK)
- Brandon Hendrickson (USA)
- Erin Banks (USA
- Diogo Montenegro (Brazil)
- Raymont Edmonds (USA)
- Carlos DeOliveira (Brazil)
- Daniel Ammons (USA)
- Kyron Holden (USA)
- Ahmed Shokry (Egypt)
- Balint Nemeth (Hungary)
- Alessandro Cavagnola (Italy)
- Yukihiro Yuasa (Japan)
- Zheyu Zhang (China)
- Arya Saffaie (USA)
- Vincius Mateus Viera Lima (Brazil)
- David Mazzolari (Italy)
- Mahmood Al-Maghrabi (Bahrain)
- Emanual Hunter (USA)
- Hossein Karimi (Iran)
- Bongsuk Choi (South Korea)
- Imran Khan (India)
- Ponpaisan Ruangsangpen (Thailand)
- Jason Huynh (USA)
- Benquil Marigny (USA)
- Myron Griffin (USA)
- Fabrizio Dos Santos Silva (Australia)
- Sadik Hadzovic (USA)
- Alexander Toplyn (USA)
- Mehdi Kabbadj (Morocco)
- Steven Cao (USA)
- Vitor Chaves (Brazil)
- Clarence McSpadden (USA)
- JuXian He (China)
- Ali Bilal (Belgium)
- Edvan Palmeira (Brazil)
- Nicolas Koeu (USA)
- Youcef Djoudi (Algeria)
- Montae Bailey (USA)
- Charjo Grant (USA)
- Elton Mota (Portugal)
- Corey Morris (USA)
- Rodrigue Chesnier (France)
- Felipe Franco (Brazil)
- Shun Kaneko (Japan)
- Antoine Weatherspoon (USA)
- Jeffrey Darko (UK)
- Chevy Phillips (Canada)
- Long Wu (China)
- Je Endrina (New Zealand)
- Winston Sullivan (USA)
- Emile Walker (UK)
- Joven Sagabain (Philippines)
- Peng Chao (China)
- Junho Lee (South Korea)
- George Brown (USA
- Sidy Pouye (Spain)
- Tunahan Guyler (Turkey)
- Abisai Pietersz (Netherlands)
- Jonas Jamena (Philippines)
- Adelyemi Awoyemi (UK)
- Emmanuel Costa (Brazil)
- Jingbo Li (China)
- Andre Ferguson (USA)
- Sotirios Gkatsis (Greece)
Hadzovic competed twice in the Men’s Physique division in 2022 — his aforementioned win at the 2022 Pittsburgh Pro on May 7, 2022, and a third-place finish at the 2022 New York Pro on May 21, 2022. Kyron Holden won the 2022 New York Pro, and Alexander Toplyn finished as the runner-up ahead of Hadzovic.
2022 marked the first year Hadzovic competed since a hiatus from the competitive stage since the 2019 Arnold Sports Festival. Hadzovic competed in the Classic Physique division to a sixth-place finish at that contest. That move to Classic Physique came after another two-year hiatus from his last appearance at the Olympia in the Classic Physique division in 2017, where he ranked seventh overall.
In 2016, Hadzovic claimed the bronze at the Classic Physique Olympia behind silver-medalist Arash Rahbar and champion Danny Hester. In 2015, Hadzovic competed twice in the Men’s Physique division, winning the Arnold Classic and coming in second at the Olympia behind four-time Men’s Physique Olympia champ Jeremy Buendia — a repeat of the 2014 Men’s Physique Olympia.
BarBend has reached out to Hadzovic for comment regarding his 2022 Olympia withdrawal and will update this article if/when he responds.
Featured image via @sadikhadzovic on Instagram