The 2004 Mr. Olympia was the first year of the Challenge Round, in which the top-six finalists were pitted against one another in specific poses, with each pose worth two points to the winner.
Defending champ Ronnie Coleman had crushed the competition, losing only the abs and thigh pose to Jay Cutler. Similarly, Cutler had lost only the rear double biceps pose to Dexter Jackson. Combined with the points each had accumulated in the previous rounds, Coleman had 22 to Cutler’s 21, leaving the door open for Cutler to overtake Coleman. With one last challenge to decide the contest, Coleman called for a rear lat spread and won to beat Cutler 24–21 and capture his seventh Sandow.
However, in a FLEXonline.com poll, 1,279 voters believed Cutler had won the pose while 1,253 voters stood by the call. A far greater margin resulted when voters were asked if Coleman should’ve opted for a rear double biceps pose instead of a rear lat spread. 1,769 voters said yes, while only 663 stood by Coleman’s original decision. The Challenge Round was dropped after the 2005 Mr. Olympia. FLEX
