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Mohamed Foda Wins Big In Chicago!

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by Christian Duque

What a huge win for one of the greatest bodybuilders from Dubai competing on the international bodybuilding circuit. Mohamed brought tremendous condition to the stage in the windy city and was able to walk away with the victory but we need to really talk about what all he put into this monumental achievement in his bodybuilding career. The fans were at the edge of their seats, others were up screaming and yelling as Mohamed made history at one of the biggest and most prestigious shows on the bodybuilding circuit. When you look at the pecking order you have the Olympia up top, followed by the Arnold, followed by the New York Pro, but then there’s Chicago and Tampa.

Chicago is bodybuilding territory and it always has been! The city has a number of hardcore gyms and several of the sport’s most hardcore lifters have come from this concrete jungle. Chicago has an extraordinarily cold climate and gyms are packed for multiple months throughout the year. This is a place where bodybuilding thrives and where fans pack the house. This is why winning here and qualifying here is so important in terms of marketing and buzz going into the Mr Olympia and that it’s exactly where Mohamed is going. But his victory was one that required attention to detail.

We have all heard how his tan looked so much better at the finals than at the prejudging. We also have heard about how important the angling of his poses was in comparisons that could have easily seen a different man win the title. Sometimes even the most seasoned veterans of the professional circuit forget that bodybuilding is a sport that is very much about the details. A lot of guys make the mistake of coming in way bigger than the rest or way more shredded than the rest but they fail to realize that sometimes the factors that lead to a victory often go overlooked. Imagine how important a few coats of tan was at this particular competition.

Mohamed looked amazing from the moment he hit the stage but a lot of people said that his color was a little bit off. Sometimes it isn’t really the color so much as it’s the oil or how it hits the lights. The reality of the matter is that a competitor that is battling for a title in a subjective sport such as bodybuilding needs to make sure that the judges can appreciate absolutely every muscle group and every muscle group in comparison to the next. It is absolutely critical for the judges on the far right and the far left as well as the center to see everything in the 20/20 vision.

A lot of competitors make the mistake of posing for the cameras or even posing for the audience. Great pictures do not win bodybuilding shows. The loudest applause do not win bodybuilding shows, either. It is the judges that score each competitor and it’s the judges who are responsible for picking the winners. Therefore, if color is off or the oil is too much, the competitor needs to take drastic action or face losing a competition that was theirs to win.

Now I don’t know if Mohamed realized the color issue or if it was his coach or someone else in his camp who did. I will tell you though that a lot of the commentators were saying this throughout the intrawebs as well as many fans that took to the few remaining message boards during the day. It is possible that someone told him or he figured it out himself. What I highly doubt is that a fellow competitor said anything. But then again this is why the time between the prejudging and the finals is so important. The good coaches will hunker down with their athletes maybe after they get a hamburger in or maybe they get some carbs or whatever and they will look over what was done in the morning. And this is also why I am not a huge fan of bodybuilding shows that have a very short interim between the prejudging and the finals. There should be several hours to play with there. Whether it’s to make final adjustments, analyze what was done in the prejudging, or make small changes that may make for a huge difference in the outcome.

Something as minute as color or the amount of oil or bling or whatever else could really make a huge difference. I don’t want to talk so much about how Mohamed was able to dominate the competition as much as I want to talk about the importance of the finer details of stage presence in a subjective sport. It doesn’t matter if it’s bodybuilding, physique, at the end of the day it’s about putting together the best package possible. and that of course includes things like what trunk color, how much oil, how much tan, all of that stuff. It’s not something that is glaringly apparent such as size or condition but it’s every bit as important. And this win in Chicago proved positive that sometimes the victories are in the details.

Also Mohamed is an Evogen sponsored athlete so to me that means that Hany Rambod was involved in his preparations – whether directly or on some consultative level. The reality of the matter is this athlete has a huge sponsor in his corner and also hails from a country that is a hotbed of physique-based sports.

When you think about Dubai you think about Kuwait. Both countries have an undeniable role in bringing us some of the best bodybuilders in the world. So I would not be shocked if immediately after the prejudging Mohamed’s phone started ringing left and right, as well as his coach’s, and many members of his team. These folks live and breathe bodybuilding. And they would be some of the most critical eyes of all. Maybe even more critical than the judges themselves. Now mind you Mohamed looked entirely different in the night show than he did for the prejudging with regards to the tan and I believe that that may have been what secured the victory for him.

Let’s talk about the competition and it was pretty fierce let me tell you. This was not by any stretch of the imagination a cakewalk for Mohamed or anyone else. There was definitely talent in the top five but I don’t think anybody was really pushing Mohamed and that would have been all the more tragic had he lost on something as minor as color or amount of posing oil used. And not only could he have lost the title for something like that – it happens all the time.

Vladyslav Sukhoruchko brought his A game and took a commanding second, but I don’t think he was quite on the same level as Mohamed. Tim Budesheim and Natan Epler landed in 3rd and 4th, respectively. Both guys brought good physiques and a good amount of muscle and condition to the stage. I think they deserved the placings they got but they just didn’t have what was needed to win the show. The same goes for the runner-up. All of these guys made for a strong top four but they just locked that little bit to get them into the winner’s circle at this particular competition. Now if Mohamed had slipped with the posing oil or the color, would that have been enough? I can’t say for sure but I’m just glad he was able to catch the issue and fix it. A lot of people were also impressed with 5th place finisher Jordan Hutchinson, who looked to be in decent shape and posed hard.

Please don’t get me wrong, this was a good Top 5, but Mohamed dominated the show. This was simply his contest to lose and he made sure he was getting the W.

It’s also cool to see that yet another quality competitor is going to the Olympia. This year is going to have a lot of new blood and what can be described as a changing of the guard. This will keep the sport young and firing on all cylinders. We are also seeing a lot of bodybuilders coming from Dubai, Kuwait, and Iran. Their influence in the sport of bodybuilding is undeniable. and that makes me very optimistic for the future because this is not an American sport or a North American sport, rather, it is very much an international sport where all regions of the world are represented by quality guys that bring it to the stage. They work tirelessly in the gym, posing hours upon hours in the mirror, and when they hit the stage they are there to win and to win only. This is not a sport of 10th place medals and perfect attendance awards. These guys are not interested in competing “just to have fun.” They want to be the best and they will not stop until they have achieved that goal. They are the ones that make for the sport to be a crowd-pleaser and a consistent grower.

So do you think the judges got it right? Did Mohamed deserve the win at the 2024 IFBB Chicago Pro? Do you think he’ll do damage at the Mr. Olympia? As always, thanks for reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine!! I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments.

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