Fans and bodybuilding veterans thought Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford, the Olympia champions, would face off in a two-man matchup going into the renowned competition. But Dauda’s fullness and amazing conditioning were the main attraction.
Samson Dauda shocked everyone by winning his first title at the 2024 Mr. Olympia. In a recent video, Dauda talked about earning a record $600,000 paycheck, Derek Lunsford falling to third place, and utilizing fewer s******s to get his physique.
Choopan once again took second place, but Dauda won with an all-time finest look. Derek Lunsford finished in third position as a result of his effort.
Now that the momentous evening is behind him, Dauda talks about how the win changed his life and what he did to change and refine his physique.
The prejudging
After the prejudging Dauda felt he was in a similar position like at the 2023 Mr. Olympia. He knew he was in top 3, but he could only guess the real placing.
“I know I was definitely top three somewhere. Then you’re like okay, don’t think about it more than that. Just think about tomorrow being another show that you got to start again. So whatever you leave at that point, you’ve got to be better.
We were in the same position last year. If you start thinking, am I winning, am I second, am I third? You end up overthinking it, you end up making mistakes because you’re trying to fix things that don’t require fixing.”
I am too small and flat
Dauda says that before that Friday night prejudging, he thought that he looks flat and hated his look. At one point he even thought that the whole preparation was in vain.
“At one point on Friday, I think it was Friday afternoon, I got up I had a nap I woke up and looked in the mirror and I hated the look. I was like this is bulls*it, I prepped all this time and I looked like crap. I looked small, I looked flat. I lost my crap. This sucks.”
“It starts spiraling in your head and no matter what you see. You go to all different mirrors. Oh the lighting sucks, and you go everywhere you’re checking for the perfect – I can’t see the same lines,” said Dauda. “We spoke about this so much during the prep. Your mind is going to play that game with you. When it does, what did we say we do? Sit down, have a nap, wake up, let it pass.”
My heart went through my guts when Derek Lunsford was called to take the third-place prize.
“You’re standing there, waiting for judgment to be passed down on you and you have to take it. It’s horrible. You have no control, it’s the most horrible part of the whole thing,” says Dauda.
“Then they said in third place and you hear Derek’s name. Honestly, my heart literally went through my freakin guts. I was like what? I was like okay.”
I’m happy with number two
Samson says that he never dreamed he’s going to take the sandow. At that time he was perfectly happy with second place.
“Holy sh*t Derek is third. Holy sh*t, I’m top two,” shared Dauda. “When they said top two, can we have Samson and Hadi in the middle of the stage? That walk is like, it feels like the most slow motion, it’s almost like you’re about to walk into the gallows.”
“He said okay, this year second place is we’re raising it to $250,000. I looked over and I’m like, I’m second top two in the world, $250K I could go home with that I’m happy. I would go home with that. I’m good with that.”
Then when he won, he felt like fainting.
“First place they said $600K I felt like I was going to keel over at that point,” he shared. “He said ‘And New’ and I was like oh sh*t.”
Samson Dauda is choosing a different path than Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford, who only decided to compete in the Olympia as defending champions. He has already declared his entry for the 2025 Arnold Classic and has no intention of being a bodybuilder who only competes once a year.
