In 2009, Jay Cutler did something historic at the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. After having his reign cut short one year prior by Dexter “The Blade” Jackson, Cutler returned in force to win the ’09 show.
That doesn’t happen in bodybuilding. Prior to and since Cutler’s reclamation, no bodybuilder has ever won the Sandow trophy back after losing it.
How did Cutler pull off a stunt like that? By breaking the minds of the audience (and nearly shattering the floor of the stage) with his iconic quad stomp pose. As Cutler tells it, the 2009 Mr. Olympia was over before it began.
Owning the Room
Cutler spoke with 2023 Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford on his podcast, Cutlercast, on Jul. 29, 2024. With about three months to go before the big day, Lunsford prompted Cutler for some sage wisdom as he faces down a similar challenge of defending his inaugural win this October.
- “Eye contact is really important, whether you can see the audience or not,” Cutler advised. “Samson [Dauda] walks out with his head down and, it’s like, f#@k that. You need to walk out like, ‘I command this sh$t.’”
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- “I remember taking my clothes off backstage [in 2009], people were like, ‘What the…’ People were standing there in awe,” Cutler recounted, saying that nobody expected him to win that year.
That backstage awe spilled over onto the audience when Cutler stepped out under the lights. To seal the deal, the Massachusetts native famously stomped his leg on the ground, flexing his quad and stamping himself into the history books in the process.
- “I walked out on stage and I had this whole thing where I was like, ‘alright motherf%#kers, I’m here,’” Cutler told Lunsford.
The quad stomp and run-the-room demeanor propelled Cutler to his best performance yet at the 2009 Olympia. By points, 2010 was Cutler’s magnum opus, but his return to form in ‘09 shut everybody up:
- 2006: 22 points
- 2007: 28 points
- 2009: 15 points
- 2010: 11 points
Trivia: In bodybuilding, the athlete with the lowest number of points ranks the highest. At the Olympia, a 5-point card is considered a perfect score.
Derek Lunsford’s “Jay Cutler Moment”
Lunsford is after something similar. After claiming his first Olympia win in 2023, Lunsford now faces his first title defense. Lunsford is known for having one of the best backs in the game — Cutler’s words, not ours — and expected 2022 to be his “Jay Cutler” moment:
- “When I came out [in 2022] and did the front-double-bicep pose, literally, it sucked the air out of the room.”
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Lunsford placed second to Hadi Choopan in 2022, then beat him one year later. Both men are coached by renowned muscle-maker Hany Rambod. Come the ‘24 Olympia, Lunsford will look for his own quad stomp and cement his authority as the best bodybuilder on the planet. But Choopan, like Cutler, is looking to reclaim the title he lost.
“You will not be happy I am coming,” Choopan said on social media in June.
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Featured Image: @jaycutler / Instagram
