Samson Dauda Talks About Winning $600,000 From Mr. Olympia in 2024, using less steroids and reacts to Derek Lunsford’s title loss – Fitness Volt

Samson Dauda won the mr. Olympia 2024, surprising the world to claim its first title. In a recent video shared via YouTube on October 17, 2024, Dauda talked about taking home a record $600,000 payday, Derek Lunsford falling to third place and using less steroids to get his physique .

Heading into the prestigious contest, bodybuilding fans and veterans assumed it would be a two-man battle between Olympia winners Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford. However, Dauda’s bursting fullness and refined conditioning stole the show.

Dauda prevailed with the best look of all time with Choopan again settling for second place. Derek Lunsford’s performance resulted in a third place finish. With the historic night in the rearview mirror, Dauda shared how the win transformed his life, taking fans through the steps he took to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Samson Dauda talks about the award Mr. 2024 Olympia Derek Lunsford Drops to Third Place and Using Less Steroids to Achieve a Winning Physique

Dauda was surprised by the increase in prize money at the Olympia since Jake Wood and company kept it a secret until the final results were announced.

“I think Jake (Wood) really wanted to shock the audience with this. He really pulled this one off. Like I said, no, we’re raising money this year, not next year. OK, I really wanted to leave it clear and they kept it a secret during that exact moment.”

After pre-judging on Friday night, Dauda felt he was in a similar position to 2023, so he kept his expectations in check.

“I know I was definitely top three somewhere. Then you’re fine, don’t think about it any more than that. Just think that tomorrow is another show that you have to start all over again. So whatever you leave at that moment , you have to be better.

Last year we were in the same position. If you start thinking, am I winning, am I second, am I third? You end up overthinking it, you end up making mistakes because you’re trying to fix things that don’t need fixing.”

At one point, before pre-judging, Dauda thought he looked small and flat but he listened to his wife and ignored her doubts.

“At some point on Friday, I think it was Friday afternoon, I got up, took a nap, woke up and looked in the mirror and hated the look. I was like this is shit, I prepared all this time and it felt like shit. It looked small, it looked flat. I lost my shit. This is bullshit.”

“It starts spiraling in your head and it doesn’t matter what you see. You go to all the different mirrors. Oh, the lighting hurts, and you go everywhere you’re checking for perfect; I don’t see the same lines,” Dauda said. “We talked about this a lot in preparation. Your mind will play this game with you. When it does, what did we say we do? Sit down, take a nap, wake up, let it happen.”

Dauda said his heart “literally went through my weird guts” when Derek Lunsford was called to win the third prize.

“You’re standing there, waiting for a judgment to be passed on you and you have to take it. It’s horrible. You have no control, that’s the most horrible part of it all,” says Dauda.

“Then they said in third place and you hear Derek’s name. Honestly, my heart literally went out of my gut. I was like what? It was okay.”

He said waiting for the final results felt like a walk to the gallows and revealed he was happy to take home $250,000 in second place at the time.

“Shit Derek is third. Shit, I’m top two,” shared Dauda. “When they said top two, can we have Samson and Hadi in the middle of the stage? This ride is like, it feels like slow motion, it’s almost like you’re about to walk into the gallows.

“He said okay, this year second place is we’re going to raise it to $250,000. I looked up and said, I’m second out of the top two in the world, $250KI could go home with that I’m happy. I’d go home with that. I’m fine with that.”

Dauda explained that he was about to leave after finding out he won the title and $600,000.

“First of all, they said KI$600 felt like I was going to stop at the time,” he shared. “He said ‘And nine’ and I was like shit.”

According to Dauda, ​​the small amount of steroids he used during his preparations for Mr. 2024 Olympia.

“It was scary how much less. If we hadn’t seen the evidence in the physical every day, we’d never seen your body respond so quickly, we’d never seen your body change so much, I don’t think it would be possible.

If he and his team couldn’t see improvements from a specific compound, they removed it from their stack.

“It was almost a case of why are you using this? Can you physically see the result? Can’t you? Then take it out, you don’t need it. It was debunking a lot of that stuff and bringing it down to the most basic form. D ‘okay, that’s all you need for your body to respond. Anything else is just oversaturating it.’

Unlike Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford, who only chose to compete in Olympia as defending champions, Samson Dauda is taking a different route. He doesn’t plan on being a one-show-a-year bodybuilder and has already announced his entry for the upcoming 2025 Arnold Classic.

Samson Dauda’s win sent shock waves through the sport and completely rearranged the pecking order within the Open Men’s division. As one of the tallest athletes in the division, as long as he brings the conditioning, his opponents will have a hard time taking his title in the upcoming competitions.

RELATED: Jay Cutler and Milos Sarcev Talk About ‘Dramatically Improved’ Samson Dauda at 2024 Mr. Olympia: “I think it was unbeatable”

Watch the full video from Fouad Abiad Media’s YouTube channel below:

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