Strength, commitment pay in body-building
By Seabrook Mow
Special to The Advertiser
When Texas police officer Ronnie Coleman comes to Hawai'i, he is all business.
Photo courtesy of Mits Kawashima • • • Show facts • What: 24th annual Hawaiian Islands Bodybuilding Championship • When: Tomorrow • Time: Doors open 5 p.m., show starts 6:30 p.m. • Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall • Tickets: All seats reserved, $41, $36, $31, $26, $21 • Guest PERFORMERS: Bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman, four-time Mr. Olympia; bodybuilder Johnnie Jackson, National 2001 overall winner; Tanji Johnson, National 2001 overall fitness winner; Hillel Gitter, Balloon man • Information: Mits' Basic Foods Inc., 536-2887
But not in law enforcement.
"I would enjoy bodybuilding even if I wasn't Mr. Olympia," says Ronnie Coleman, the reigning four-time Mr. Olympia titlist.
Instead you can catch the reigning four-time Mr. Olympia in his posing trunks, and flexing his 24-inch biceps at the 24th annual 2002 Hawaiian Islands Bodybuilding Championship tomorrow night at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.
With a contest weight of 265 pounds and freakish strength, it's not hard to image why the 38-year-old Coleman is so dominating in the sport.
"Ronnie has amazing strengths; no one can beat him right now. He'll be the champion for many more years," said Hawaiian Islands promoter Mits Kawashima.
Some of Coleman's feats of strength include:
• deadlifting 800 pounds;
• doing lunges over 50 yards with 225 pounds on his back;
• pulling up 300 pounds with one arm in an exercise motion called "lawn mowers."
"I'm pretty big, and at the same time symmetrical," said the 5-foot-11 Coleman in a telephone interview.
Coleman wowed the crowd in his previous visit, the 2000 Hawaiian Island Championship.
This time, Coleman said, he's "just going to wing it and I don't know what I'm going to do but just do it."
Coleman said he has "visited Hawai'i three times, all for business, not for relaxation, and always looks forward to coming down here.
"The Hawaiian Islands is pretty much the stepping blocks; without shows like this you can't get to where I'm at. That's where I started from basically," Coleman said.
Despite Coleman's hectic schedule, he still manages to be a part-time police officer in Arlington, Texas, where he has served for 13 years.
After graduating from Grambling State in Louisiana in 1986 with a degree in accounting, Coleman moved to Dallas.
It was in Texas where Coleman put himself on the bodybuilding map.
Climb to the top
In April 1990 he entered a show called Mr. Texas, and won the overall championship.
But it wasn't until the following year, when he stepped up into the elite class of bodybuilders by winning the Mr. Universe in Poland.
He entered the Mr. Olympia in 1994, the Super Bowl of bodybuilding, but placed 16th.
Coleman bounced back in 1998 and won the event.
"It felt so good 'cause I worked so hard; no one would believe how hard it takes to win unless put into that position. Also, it was a surprise because the year before that, I wasn't even a top-five contender," Coleman said.
Now, he considers "anybody in the show a threat, "'cause they're all after me. Anyone else can do the same by coming from ninth to first place."
Even if he didn't find success in the sport he still would have pursued it.
"I would enjoy bodybuilding even if I wasn't Mr. Olympia. I also enjoy being a cop, which I take great pride in," Coleman said.
Notes: The Hawaiian Islands Championship is being dedicated to Karen Hirasa, the daughter of promoters Mits and Dot Kawashima. Hirasa, 55, passed away June 2. "Every time you lose somebody it's always a very sad situation," Coleman said.
