No Statue of Limitations

Arnold will be back. In more ways than one, at this season’s Arnold Sports Festival, held March 1-4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Followers of the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Jim Lorimer promoted mega-weekend know the dynamic duo always add something big to the production each season. A couple of issues back I wrote about the 8-foot, 800-pound statue of the Governator in the News & Views that was unveiled in October in his hometown of Thai, Austria. It’s located on the front lawn, outside the museum, open since last July, that is the two-story home where Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up. Some of the significant items in the historical building include his first barbell, life-size “Terminator” models and his polished wood governor’s desk.

Now, the bronze sculpture will be coming to Columbus, Ohio. Well, at least a replica will be. The statue, a facsimile of the Arnold Classic trophy (the Ralph Crawford design from 1980), will be dedicated at 11:30 am on Friday, March 2, as part of the annual Arnold Sports Festival. It will be located in the front lawn of Veterans Memorial, and was donated to the city by Dr. Robert Goldman on behalf of the International Sports Hall of Fame (which will induct the inaugural class at this year’s ASF).

“This is great recognition for both Arnold and the Arnold Sports Festival,” said Lorimer. “Arnold and I are extremely pleased and honored that the Franklin County Commissioners requested instillation of the statue in front of Veterans Memorial Auditorium….Arnold won the Mr. World at Vets in 1970. We’ve been promoting contests together for the past 37 years.”

The morning of the unveiling, Schwarzenegger will be speaking to the Columbus Metropolitan Club for the first time. The Metropolitan Club is an influential group of downtown business leaders.

At the opening of the late Joe Gold’s World Gym in Venice, CA in 1987, I asked Arnold how things were going. “Great, and always getting better…you keep going up, up,” he told me. As you can see, things are still going up, up, 25 years later.