Samson Dauda won the 2024 Mr. Olympia contest Saturday night from Resorts World in Las Vegas, the first of his career.
It came at the end of a tense competition that saw the judges perform several callouts before finally feeling confident in their decision to announce a brand-new champion.
Besides the adulation of an entire industry, how much did the victor pocket as a result of his win and what did social media have to say about the outcome?
Find out in this recap.
Prize Money
First Place: $600,000*
Second Place: $250,000
*Record payout for the winner.
A First-Time Champion
Dauda completed a long, arduous journey to the pinnacle of bodybuilding Saturday, winning the Mr. Olympia competition and beating out two former champions, Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford, to collect his first title.
The moment he was announced as the victor, he was emotional, dropping to his knees and breaking down in tears before he hoisted the most coveted prize in his sport.
It was a historic feat beyond the first-time win, too.
Dauda’s victory ensured that the Mr. Olympic title would return to the United Kingdom for the first time since Dorian Yates’ six-year run atop the industry ended in 1997.
Saturday’s results marked the second year in a row that 2022 champion Choopan finished in second place. It also meant that the 2023 champion, Lunsford, fell to third place this year.
Dauda was not only the judge’s choice for the win but also was named the People’s Champion and “received a championship belt and trophy.”
After several callouts and great uncertainty as to which competitor would ultimately impress the judges enough to earn their selection as the winner, Dauda emerged victoriously, announcing his arrival at the peak of the bodybuilding world with a win on its grandest stage.
2024 Mr. Olympia Finals
This was a two-day show, with pre-judging on Friday, Oct. 11, and the finals a day later. The 15 athletes who advanced from pre-judging entered the main stage for head judge Steve Weinberger’s direction for numerical comparisons. The judges scored competitive callouts to determine the finishing order.
Past Winners
Joining Lunsford as previous champions competing in this year’s competition are 2022 winner Hadi Choopan and 2019 victor Brandon Curry. They will look to become multi-time titleholders, joining the sport’s most decorated stars.
Multi-time champions have been common since the inaugural days of the event.
Larry Scott kicked things off, winning the first and second events. Sergio Oliva picked up where he left off, winning the next three. While those two athletes would lay the groundwork for the industry, introducing the Terminator himself sparked interest in the sport and help catapult it to new heights.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the most recognizable face in the industry’s long history, won six consecutive Mr. Olympia events from 1970 through 1975 before Hollywood came calling.
He returned to the industry in 1980 and proved he still had it, winning a seventh title.
Frank Zane and Dorian Yates would go on to leave their lasting legacies as repeated victors who dominated the sport for extended periods before Jay Cutler and Phil Heath all defined eras in bodybuilding with their long strings of dominance.
Phil Haney and Ronnie Coleman are the most prolific winners, tied for eight Mr. Olympia victories, making them the most decorated to compete in the event.
It remains to be seen if Lunsford or Choopan can add a second title to their resumes. They have tough competition in the form of Samson Douda, a bodybuilder whose physique is rivaled by few and could easily be deemed the best in the show on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The quality of talent in the sport right now, too, could make it difficult for one competitor to go on the type of run that Schwarzenegger, Coleman, Haney, and the others have experienced. The deeper the talent pool, the less likelihood that a given performer can fend off his opposition for any extended period of time.
Still, there is an opportunity for history to be made Saturday with a Lunsford or Choopan victory.
And an entirely different kind of history should Douda, the most obvious threat to either man, earn the nod from the judges.