Video of Sergio Oliva on the beat and in the gym.
Sergio Oliva, 71, a retired Chicago police officer and the only bodybuilder to ever defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Mr Olympia contest, died on Monday. He was discovered unresponsive by his family, and pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. He was
As a Cuban athlete, Sergio Oliva sprinted to the American Consulate in Kingston, Jamaica while participating in the 1961 Pan Am Games to escape communist Cuba. He was granted political asylum from Cuba, and emigrated to the United States and took residence in Miami, Florida. He moved to Chicago in 1963.
It was at Chicago’s Duncan YMCA that the weightlifter was introduced to the sport of bodybuilding by top local bodybuilder (and future Mr. America) Bob Gajda. Gajda recognized the young man’s incredible physical potential and took him under his wing. As predicted, Sergio’s muscles ballooned immediately under the unique stresses of a bodybuilding regimen. He took to bodybuilding as an eagle to soaring and by the end of the year had won his first title, Mr. Young Chicagoland.
— sergiooliva.com (Reprint from FLEX magazine)
At his peak
1967
• IFBB Mr. Universe
• IFBB Mr. Olympia
1968
• IFBB Mr. Olympia
1969
• IFBB Mr. Olympia
He defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Mr Olympia contest in 1969 — only once, but still he’s the only man to beat Arnold.