SAMSON DAUDA says his decision to compete at the France Pro this weekend is a new strategy to hit the Mr Olympia "perfectly".
UK athlete Dauda surprised many this week with his decision to compete just two weeks out from bodybuilding's biggest show.
Some might ask what the fuss is all about. And you would be justified in asking that question. After all, how many shows do we see amateur or lower-level pros compete at during a season? Some reach double figures. Surely Dauda, given his calibre, can handle two?
But this is not a local regional. This is what is known as the "Super Bowl of bodybuilding". Surely anything that detracts from giving it 100 per cent attention is simply not worth the risk?
Not so, according to Dauda. He said: "This idea of building momentum into one show. It’s absolute rubbish. You can look amazing by yourself, but until you stand next to the top guys, you don’t really know.
"People might ask me why I am doing this two weeks out from the Olympia. There are lot of reasons but the main one is always going to be, I love competing. I love bodybuilding, I love taking the stage, I love competing. I love everything that comes with this sport.
"For me, this is just another opportunity to do that. I have always said I would never be a one-show-a-year guy, I will not be that guy you only see on the Olympia stage and no other time of the year. I will always do multiple shows a year, because that's what I want to do. What I don't want is to have a very short career where I just prep once a year and do one show and that's it.
"Another reason is France. I've never been to France and I've never competed in France. I have a lot of amazing French fans who send me messages of motivation, so for me having the chance to go to France and compete is a way of showing my support and saying thank you.
"Another reason is because this is a new strategy we have going into the Olympia. This is a chance for us to practice our peak one time before the Olympia.
"So having the chance to practice that now and go through a little peak week, go to a show and go through the whole process of competing once and taking the knowledge of what we learned from that and the judges feedback, then having two weeks to adapt that going into the Olympia is another way for us to hit the Olympia perfectly.
"This gets rid of any chance of guessing too, because we have done it before."
Dauda had his last training session on Thursday this week and is scheduled to travel to France on Friday. He said: "On Friday morning we will driving up to France. It is about a seven and a half hour drive for us. We decided to drive instead of flying because it's going to be a lot more relaxed and lot less stressful. We have a 4x4 and we just throw everything in there and just drive straight up through the Euro tunnel."
Only time will tell if Dauda's decision will come back to haunt him. One thing is for sure, however: if for any reason he is off come Olympia time, critics will be sure to point the finger at this call.
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