Lee
“Total-Lee Awesome” Haney’s IFBB Mr. Olympia
career comprises a catalog of superlatives: he won more IFBB
Mr. Olympia’s than anyone else (eight: 1984-1991); defeated
more bodybuilders than anyone else in IFBB Mr. Olympia
competition (83); traveled more extensively in doing so (all
his IFBB Mr. Olympia wins were in different cities – five in
the United States and three in Europe); and in his last IFBB
Mr. Olympia victory (1991, when he handed Dorian Yates his
last defeat) weighed 248 pounds, which up until that time made
him the heaviest winner ever.
Besides
mass, Haney possessed flowing lines and an onstage presence
that defied anyone to beat him. After winning the 1979
Teenage Mr. America, Haney became the National Physique
Committee’s first Nationals Overall Champion in 1982, then
went on to win the IFBB World Amateur Championships
heavyweight title that same year.Lee lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Shirley
and runs his own gym business. A spiritual man, he has also
established Harvest House, a nonprofit retreat for children of
deprived backgrounds.
