Triceps Tears Takes Levrone, Ruhl Out of ?Olympia

Reported September 2, 2003

Triceps Tears Takes Levrone, Ruhl Out of ‘Olympia

Thanks to a couple of triceps tears, the Mr. Olympia continues to shrink. Markus Ruhl is definitely out. Kevin Levrone is 50/50 at best, although Shawn Ray, one of Levrone’s closest friends, says he’s out for sure, and another familiar acquaintance says it will be “nothing short of miraculous if he makes it.”

Ruhl suffered his injury, around August 20th, according to sources, while doing flat bench presses in Germany. Levrone, according to Ray, had his left triceps snap following a set of lat pulldowns with the whole stack on August 27 at Kevin’s World Gym in Millersville, Maryland.

“Kevin tore the inner head of his left triceps where it attaches up near the rear delt and under the armpit,” said Maryland State Chairman Todd Sweeney. “It’s an 80% tear, and he went through a four-hour surgery the morning after the accident. Personally, I think it’s severe enough that he won’t be able to bounce back for the ‘Olympia.”

“Markus was in the hospital for over a week,” said Wayne DeMilia, ‘Olympia promoter. “He is out of the show; Levrone tells me not to take him out of the show’we’ll have to see how long his rehabilitation is. Either way, I will be flying both Ruhl and Levrone into Las Vegas to be at the event.”

And, how has the dwindling field (Flex Wheeler earlier announced his retirement, and Ray turned down the Special Invitation) affected ticket sales? Not at all, according to DeMilia.

“Ticket sales are very good,” said DeMilia. “I personally talk to every VIP ticket buyer, and they’re all really excited about seeing the three guys on the poster (Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler and Gunter Schlierkamp) standing next to each other at the pre-judging. Of course, there are a couple of other guys who think they will be in the top three, too. The interest in the contest is it’s highest in years.”

“Even without the people pulling out, we still have 16 in the show. This is where the ‘Olympia line-up will be in the future, anyway. The days of 20-25 guys in the contest are over.”