The Olympia Weekend promoter announced the introduction of a new award on Dec. 19, 2020, during the Saturday night finals of the 2020 Mr. Olympia. The Olympia Inspiration and Courage Award was introduced to honor anyone who exemplifies courage when facing adversity. The inaugural recipient was a bodybuilding legend — Ken” Flex” Wheeler joined Olympia President Dan Solomon and owner Jake Wood to receive the award.
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Wheeler is a four-time Arnold Classic Champion (1993, 1998, 2000) and three-time Mr. Olympia runner-up (1993, 1998, 1999). He had won several other titles over the course of his career. Wheeler would face numerous forms of adversity in his career, including a car accident in 1994 and being diagnosed with kidney disease in 1999 before he competed in that year’s Mr. Olympia. In 2017, he came out of retirement to compete one last time in 2017 in the Classic Physique division, where he placed 15th.
In October of 2019, Wheeler suffered circulatory vascular issues that resulted in the amputation of the lower half of his right leg. Despite this, Wheeler documented his rehab and recovery on social media. After receiving the award, host Bob Cicherillo gave Wheeler the mic to address the crowd, including Shaquille O’Neal and Dave Bautista.
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“Everybody goes through problems in life. Everybody’s had their challenges. My challenges are no different than anyone else,” Wheeler said. I’m definitely not Superman. That goes to Shaq. And I don’t run around the world killing aliens. That goes to homie (Dave) Bautista over there. But what I’ve really tried to learn through this process is accepting what I can’t change and change what I can’t accept, and just let that be that.”
Featured image: @officialflexwheeler on Instagram