Shawn Ray, nicknamed by the fans a genetic miracle (for the complete absence of weak muscles on the body), 13-time participant in the tournament, Mr. Olympia, known as the “Giants Killer”, was born September 9, 1965 in Fullerton, California, USA.
Ray first appeared on the podium in 1983 at a junior competition in Los Angeles. Of course, the victory literally fell into his hands. And only five years later (in 1988), Shawn began a professional career as a bodybuilder and for the whole time of participation in competitions (and there are more than 30 of them) just once did not get into 5 finalists. However, the interests of the athlete were not exhausted only by bodybuilding. He starred in six films: “Lifestyles of the Fit & Famous”, “Final Countdown”, “Inside & Out- Behind the Muscle”, “To The Extreme”, “Best of Shawn Ray” and “Fitness After 40”. The last two are autobiographical.
Ray is mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (under the authorship of Bill Dobbins and Arnold Schwarzenegger). Shawn himself became quite a popular author. In his book “The Shawn Ray Way”, he actually collected all his life experience and set it out in recommendations on how to become a bodybuilder. Ray often appeared on the cover of Flex magazine (perhaps more often than any other bodybuilder), but international publications on bodybuilding and fitness published articles about the bodybuilder with equal enthusiasm.
Unusually charming and artistic, Shawn was co-host at the “Mr. Olympia” in 2006 and 2007, held in Las Vegas. But a beautiful body and high charisma are not the main advantages of an athlete. During his life, Shawn repeatedly showed himself not only a talented and purposeful, but also a very kind person – he organized a unique fund of donations for professional bodybuilders. With the help of “podium colleagues” in just two years he managed to collect and transfer over 55,000 dollars to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
Of course, against the backdrop of numerous successes, it did not do without falls – Shawn was the first professional bodybuilder disqualified from the Arnold Classic competition for doping. However, the next year he “rehabilitated” and took the 1 st place.
But main goal – the title of “Mr. Olympia” eluded Shawn Ray throughout his career. The sportsman got 12 times in the first five – a kind of record, nobody beaten to this day. For all the time of the competition, Shawn managed to get around each of the competitors at least once. Exceptions were only 8-fold “Mr. Olympia” Lee Haney and 6-fold “Mr. Olympia” Dorian Yates. In 2007, Shawn Ray was included in the Hall of Fame professional bodybuilding IFBB.
Shawn left the competition in 2001 and now works for GENr8 Nutrition. He did not leave the writer’s activity either – in the magazine “Muscular Development” every month Shawn’s articles appear in the “Industry Inside” column.
Shawn’s personal life did not last long even at the time when the athlete was already ripe for a serious relationship. His girls got tired of rivalry with a love of bodybuilding. However, Ray, although upset, but perfectly understood them, recognizing that he lives virtually by the clock, and beginning to prepare for the next “Olympia”, he simply forgets everything else. And only at the end of his career, in 2003, Shawn married and already in 2005 (August 10) became a happy father. The daughter was named Asia Coin. The couple decided not to stop there, and on August 30, 2008, Shawn’s wife (Christie) gave birth to her second daughter, Bella Blue.
Many believed that Shawn should have been born before. Harmonious proportions and forms, a subtle sense of proportion and artistry athlete more consistent with the criteria of the 60’s. Now other times and other idols, for many of which the mass becomes almost an end in itself. Against them, Shawn (with a competitive weight of 96 kg), and the truth, often looked like a neophyte. However, he himself does not get tired of sneering at the “fashion for the extreme mass.” “The podium of Olympia” is not a medieval circus, where the public was entertained, showing freaks. “Judges simply went crazy!” Whom in our sport is Yates? Just a miserable handful of bodybuilders who managed to grow up to 190 cm, an average height of 172 cm and a starting weight of 68-70 kg. Why victory is more important and important? It’s clear that mine! Lovers will see for themselves what can be achieved in our sport with ordinary genetics! Nevertheless, I am regularly “pushed” for the sake of the guys, which weighed 100 kg already at the age of 17. Strongly disagree The supreme sense of bodybuilding is that it is capable of overturning any genetic barriers, but it is necessary to show remarkable willpower and character for this. In this sense, Olimpia should represent to us the highest manifestations of the human spirit. The ranks of all these “broilers” !? ” – this is only one of the statements of Shawn about the modern criteria for bodybuilding.
Shawn has always been a very versatile personality, despite an absolutely fanatical love for bodybuilding. His list of interests includes boxing, football, basketball, gymnastics, tennis, music (in particular, Andrea Bocelli, Mara Carey, Aerosmith and Toni Braxton) – the list goes on and on. Shawn is not indifferent to the dishes of Japanese cuisine, white chocolate and carrot pies. From the films he prefers “Brave Heart”, from cars – Lamborghini Diablo. However, the literary tastes of this athlete differ in the greatest originality: instead of belles-lettres or classic works of fiction, there is always a biography of a celebrity on his desk. According to Shawn himself, the invented facts can not teach anything. And the stories about people who live in real life make it possible to see life as it is without embellishments and exaggeration. There is something to ponder on and with whom to take an example.
