Francesco Maria Columbu
(August 7, 1941 – August 30, 2019) was an Italian
bodybuilder
Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...
,
powerlifter
Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...
, actor, author, producer, and a licensed chiropractor.
Originally a boxer, Columbu won the
Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...
in 1976 and 1981, and competed in the
inaugural edition of the
World's Strongest Man
The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decem ...
in 1977, where he placed fifth. He also had an acting career and authored numerous books on bodybuilding and nutrition. Columbu was inducted into the
IFBB Hall of Fame The IFBB Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor outstanding athletes and officials in the sport of bodybuilding. There have been no inductees since 2011.
Induction years
1999
*Carla Dunlap
*Cory Everson
*John Grimek
* Lee Haney
* Rachel Mc ...
in 2001, and received the
Arnold Classic
The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (''Arnold Classic''), strongman ('' Arnold Strongman Classic''), fitness, figure ...
Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Early life
Columbu was born on August 7, 1941, in
Ollolai
Ollolai is a ''comune'' at the centre of Barbagia, in the province of Nuoro (Sardinia, Italy). Its territory covers an area of .
It is the main town of the Barbagia di Ollolai.
Places of interest
Architecture
The main square of the village ...
on the island of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. He was a son of shepherds Maria Grazia Sedda and Antonio Columbu. He said in 1982: "I was always skinny. Until I was 11, I got beat up a lot. Then one day, I started beating people up. Nobody could touch me." He worked as a shepherd while training as a boxer. He won over 30 fights as a boxer before quitting the sport in favor of weightlifting and bodybuilding, stating: "Boxing's too rough on your face and head."
Columbu moved to Germany at a young age for work,
and met
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1965 at a bodybuilding competition in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
, Germany.
Columbu formed a lifelong friendship with Schwarzenegger,
and was Schwarzenegger's
best man
A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...
for his marriage to
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver (born November 6, 1955)
is an American journalist, author, a member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to ...
in 1986 and godfather to their daughter Christina.
Columbu and Schwarzenegger remained very close friends until Columbu's death, with Schwarzenegger stating in 2016 "He was my favourite training partner four decades ago and he is my favourite training partner today."
Athletic career
With Schwarzenegger, Columbu moved to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in the late 1960s to train and work with
Joe Weider
Joseph Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of Mr. Olympia, Ms. O ...
.
Weider provided them with a place to live and an $80 () per week stipend.
The stipend was not enough to live on, so to support their bodybuilding careers, they began a bricklaying company named European Brick Works in 1969.
At and a competition weight of around , Columbu won the
IFBB Mr. Europe and Mr. Universe titles in 1970, and the 1971 IFBB Mr. World. He won the lightweight class of the
1974 and
1975 IFBB
Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...
s, before winning the overall competition for the first time in
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
.
Columbu participated in the
inaugural edition of the
World's Strongest Man
The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decem ...
in 1977. He placed fifth, behind four men who outweighed him by around . During the event, he
dislocated
A joint dislocation, also called luxation, occurs when there is an abnormal separation in the joint, where two or more bones meet.Dislocations. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Retrieved 3 March 2013 A partial dislocation is refe ...
his left knee while carrying a refrigerator on his back.
The injury kept him out of competition for a few years, and he received a reported $1 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in compensation. Columbu returned to win the
1981 Mr. Olympia then retired from competition.
Known for his strength, Columbu's
clean and jerk record was , his
bench press
The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...
record was , his
squat record was , and his
deadlift
The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises ...
record was .
He was named in ''
The Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' in 1978 for bursting a
hot water bottle
A hot-water bottle is a bottle filled with hot water and sealed with a stopper, used to provide warmth, typically while in bed, but also for the application of heat to a specific part of the body.
Early history
Containers for warmth in bed wer ...
by blowing into it, which he achieved in 55 seconds.
Acting, writing, directing, and producing careers
Columbu appeared as himself in the 1977 bodybuilding docudrama ''
Pumping Iron
''Pumping Iron'' is a 1977 American docudrama about the world of professional bodybuilding, with a focus on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and 1975 Mr. Olympia competitions. Directed by George Butler and Robert Fiore and edited by Geof Bartz and L ...
''. He was the body building coach for
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
in the film ''
Rambo: First Blood Part II'' (1985), and had roles in films that starred Schwarzenegger, including ''
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...
'' (1982), ''
The Terminator
''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whos ...
'' (1984), and ''
The Running Man'' (1987). In addition, Columbu's name appears during the opening credits of Schwarzenegger's ''
Last Action Hero
''Last Action Hero'' is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott. It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies ...
'' as the director of fictional film ''Jack Slater IV''.
Columbu's later films, also as a writer and producer, included the cult film ''Beretta's Island'', (1993), ''Doublecross on Costa's Island'', which he also directed and ''Ancient Warriors'' (2003). These three films were almost entirely shot in his homeland of Sardinia. He was also featured, as an actor, in the low budget production of '.
Personal life and death
Columbu lived in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
since the 1970s. He was a licensed
chiropractor
Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudoscien ...
, earning his degree from
Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1977.
Columbu returned to his hometown of Ollolai in Sardinia every year towards the end of August to attend the local festivities.
[Martedì a Ollolai i funerali di Franco Columbu](_blank)
L'Ortobene
On August 30, 2019, after feeling unwell while swimming off the coast of
San Teodoro, Sardinia, Columbo died during transportation by helicopter to a hospital in
Olbia
Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age, ...
, twenty-three days after his 78th birthday. He was survived by his wife, Deborah, their daughter, Maria, and three sisters: Anna, Gonaria and Celestina.
A funeral was held in his birthplace of Ollolai on September 3.
A memorial was held in Los Angeles on October 6, 2019.
Filmography
Achievements
Bodybuilding titles
*1970 IFBB Mr. World (Short)
*1970 IFBB Mr. Universe (Short & Overall)
*1971 IFBB Mr. World (Short & Overall)
*
1974 Mr. Olympia
The 1974 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held on October 12, 1974 at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It was the 10th Mr. Olympia competition held.
Results
Over 200lbs
...
(Lightweight)
*
1975 Mr. Olympia
The 1975 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held November 4–11, 1975 in Pretoria, South Africa. It was the 11th Mr. Olympia competition and the feature event of the 1975 IFBB International Congress.
The ev ...
(Lightweight)
*
1976 Mr. Olympia (Lightweight & Overall)
*
1981 Mr. Olympia
World's Strongest Man
*
1977, fifth place
Powerlifting records
*
Bench press
The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...
,
*
Squat,
*
Deadlift
The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises ...
,
See also
*
List of male professional bodybuilders
This is a list of male professional bodybuilders.
A
* Fouad Abiad
* Manohar Aich, "Pocket Hercules"
* Abdulhadi Al-Khayat
* Achim Albrecht
* Troy Alves
* Charles Atlas
* Art Atwood
* Dayo Audi
B
* Jim Badra
* William Bankier
* Moh ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
, colspan="3" style="text-align:center;",
Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columbu, Franco
1941 births
2019 deaths
Deaths by drowning
Italian bodybuilders
Italian emigrants to the United States
Italian people of Sardinian descent
Italian powerlifters
Italian strength athletes
Male powerlifters
People from the Province of Nuoro
Professional bodybuilders
Sportspeople from Sardinia