Ronnie Coleman is a retired American bodybuilder, who has won the title of Mr. Olympia consecutively eight times.

Coleman is known for his muscular physique and extremely heavy workouts. In the year 2001, he became the only bodybuilder to win both Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic at the same time.

Coleman is generally regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time along with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Coleman, on the other hand, believes that the title of the greatest bodybuilder of all time is only suitable for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Ronnie Coleman
Ronnie Coleman’s Admiration For Arnold Schwarzenegger

The eight-time Mr. Olympia was honored with the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. After receiving the award, Coleman gave a very emotional and impactful speech.

The award was presented to Coleman by his role model Arnold Schwarzenegger. Coleman began his speech with his classic phrases, “Yeah buddy” and “lightweight”. Ronnie Coleman then continued to express his admiration for Arnold Schwarzenegger by referring to him as the greatest bodybuilder of all time. 

“Wanna give it up to Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the greatest bodybuilder of all time.Yeah, buddy. People always ask me who do you think is the greatest bodybuilder of all time and I always say Arnold, and they say why did you say that, we were thinking of you.

I’m like well back in the day, what Arnold did it, he didn’t have the technology I had. He got all that mass, class, and size with pure hard work, dedication, and faith. Me, I had a little technology behind me and I learned a lot from guys like him, guys that came before us.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ronnie Coleman Disagrees With The Concept That Bodybuilding Is An Individual Sport

Ronnie Coleman added to his speech and expressed his sincere gratitude for all the ladies of his house, which includes his wife, sisters, and mother.

Coleman, in his speech, which he in a later interview referred to as the hardest thing he has ever done in life, mentioned how his loved ones contributed to his present success.

The eight times Mr. Olympia grabbed the opportunity to thank his family for always supporting him. Coleman marked that bodybuilding is not an individual sport but the collective effort of many others. 

“A lot of people think that bodybuilding is an individual sport because they see up here all by ourselves, you know just doing our thing. Posing as hard as we can and sweating.

And then it’s the gym working out as hard as we can, doing all that cardio and stuff but I want to be one of the guys to let you know that bodybuilding is not an individual support because, without the help and support of family, there is no way in hell that I could have won eight Mr. Olympia’s, probably not even one.”

Ronnie Coleman and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Coleman’s speech was surely filled with a lot of emotions and it was well evident by his words and voice. Yet, his admiration for The Terminator star was surely impressive.

Rather than enjoying his earned tag of the greatest bodybuilder of all time, he didn’t hesitate to confess his admiration for Schwarzenegger.