The Sandow Trophy

Posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2014 by John Wood
Just over a century ago, Eugen Sandow held the very first physique contest ever, which was known simply as “The Great Competition.” The first place prize for this contest was a magnificent gold statue of Sandow himself, holding a globe dumbbell. Second and third place were the same statues, only comprised of Silver and Bronze respectively. The bronze Sandow statue would later become the first place prize in the 1950 NABBA Mr. Universe contest, eventually won by Steve Reeves.

Several decades later, Joe Weider and the promoters of the Mr. Olympia contest decided to honor Sandow and Bodybuilding’s past by resurrecting a version of this statue for their first place trophy. The first Mr. Olympia winner to take home a Sandow statue was Frank Zane in 1977.

Subscribe to this blog:
Sign up here to receive an email notification whenever a new post is added:
view pixel
All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2005-2024 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Author: John Wood

Here's the part no one pages attention to: All contents, including images and text, copyright © 2005-2021 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc. Not to be reproduced without permission. All rights reserved. We will most likely grant permission but please contact us if you would like to repost.

IMPORTANT: Equipment and books, courses etc. pictured in blog posts are for display only and generally not available for sale unless specifically noted. If we have vintage equipment, courses, ephemera etc., for sale, it will be posted on our products page.