Being in my 40's I no longer consider myself a "fan" of very many bodybuilders, largely because as we age we start to see other men as peers rather than idols worthy of emulation. However, there are still two men who I am a genuine fan of--Arnold and Dorian.
Dorian was the #1 bodybuilder coming up when I first came around the sport...and he turned the bodybuilding world upside down. For those of you who weren't around back then it is difficult to put into words just how big of an impact he had on the sport. He changed just about everything--from the way we viewed training, to what it meant to be "hardcore". He was the undisputed KING of his day, much in the same way that Ronnie was viewed as unbeatable in the late 90's and early 2000's.
Few bodybuilders to ever walk onstage were given the degree of respect Dorian was...from both fans and competitors alike. Back in 93', when Dorian's infamous black & white photos were released a few weeks prior to the Olympia, it wasn't a matter of who was going to win the show, but who was going to come in 2nd. If you speak to the pros were competing in that show, even they will tell you that those photos sent a shiver down their spine. They knew damn well that winning was out of the question. At no point in this sport's history, either before or since, has the end result seemed so certain and a bodybuilder appeared so invincible.
The guys following the sport today may have a hard time grasping this, as there are bodybuilders today who are even larger, but back then NO ONE had ever displayed a physique like that. It was something we had never seen before...and not just in terms of size, but from a conditioning standpoint as well. He set a new standard on both fronts at once...and these improvements were not just moderate, but monumental! This is the first and only time a bodybuilder has been able to achieve this.
As mentioned earlier, it wasn't just his physique that broke new ground, but it was his entire mentality and approach to training that also helped build his aura. You see, up until that point no bodybuilder had demonstrated such unwavering dedication and commitment to all aspects of his program. Dorian was universally recognized as the hardest training bodybuilder in the world.
I don't think we will ever see another bodybuilder impact the sport in the way he did.