"Masters should be 50 above" - Lee Priest 'upset' of 2023 Masters Olympia being age 40+

Modified Mar 13, 2024 12:33 GMT

Lee Priest (Image via leepriestofficial72/Instagram)

Lee Priest is a well-known bodybuilder among fans and followers of the bodybuilding community. He is very much appreciated for his longevity in the sport of bodybuilding.

The Australian has more than two decades of experience in competitive bodybuilding. According to greatest physiques, Lee Priest won his first show at a young age of 13. The Australian finished in sixth place at the 2002 Mr. Olympia.

In a recent video posted on RxMuscle - The Truth in Bodybuilding's YouTube channel, Lee Priest was involved in an interaction with Dave Palumbo and John Romano. They discussed the 2023 Masters Olympia competition. Olympia president Jake Wood confirmed that the Masters Olympia will make a comeback this season after 11 years.

The last person to win the Masters Olympia title is Dexter Jackson. He won the title in 2012. During the interaction regarding the Masters Olympia, Lee Priest suggested that the organizers should increase the age limit to 50.

The Australian bodybuilder said:

"I'm still upset, though it's 40 and over. To me, Masters should be 50 above and you haven't competed for at least 2 or 3 years. Seeing that $229,000, $9,000 goes to Masters."

Further during the video, Lee Priest and Dave Palumbo shared their opinions about the competitors and discussed the bodybuilders whose names were missing from the competitors list. Dave Palumbo said:

"A lot of these guys, I don't even know who they are. I see Fred Biggie Smalls is on the list, he’s making a comeback. You’ll probably see some guy who we don't even expect to do well probably win it. Someone who won the Masters Nationals at 40 years old, never competed their whole life, fresh-looking muscle."

Pitching in his opinion, Lee Priest said,

"Victor Martinez could do it and still do very well."

Responding to Lee, Dave claimed that he didn't know why Victor Martinez wasn't competing. Palumbo said:

"It's actually a pretty weak lineup when you consider it's only 40 and over. There are guys actively competing who are 40. I'd love to see Phil Heath do the show or Kai Greene."

Palumbo also rated Kamal Elgargni highly. He thinks that Kamal is going to be very hard to defeat because he hasn't been out of the sport. Dave stated that Kamal has been competing consistently.

The 2023 Masters Olympia will be held from August 25 to 27 in Cluj Napoca, Romania, and will feature 10 divisions from the IFBB Pro League. The prize money for the 2023 Masters Olympia is $229,000. There have been different champions in the past but Vince Taylor has won the most number of Masters Olympia titles.

Vince Taylor won six consecutive Masters Olympia titles from 1996 to 2001.