Was Kai Greene Banned From The Olympia? The Other Side

The bodybuilding world has been in a state of chaos for the last 24 hours, following the news that Kai Greene has apparently been banned from competing at this weekend's Mr Olympia competition in Las Vegas.

I'm not going to deny this - everyone in the industry is taking guesses at what has really gone on.

And as you'll learn, we still aren't 100% sure as to WHAT has exactly happened, but we do know one thing - it seems maybe Kai Greene's team may be more at fault then people think, and maybe the IFBB isn't to blame as much as some people have been suggesting.

Naturally, the story has today developed a little more.

Kai's New Supplement line: Dynamix

Kai Greene had supposedly planned to launch his brand Dynamix at the same time as the Olympia weekend - and this is where the problem started.

Word in the bodybuilding world is that Kai (or his team) wanted the booth for their supplement launch for free and didn't see why, with Kai as a big Olympia draw card, they had to pay.

The Olympia didn't budge - and so Dynamix were left with no booth - while we were all left with no Kai Greene for this weekend.

But the way the story has unfolded suggests that Kai Greene had been banned - and people have naturally been quick to point the finger at the IFBB.

However, today shows the other side of the story which poses the question: has Kai Greene been "banned" or decided not to compete?

Speaking to Flex Magazine today, Olympia promoter Robin Chang says he hasn't been banned or prohibited from competing in the Olympia competition this weekend.

Mr Chang then offered up a very different version of events: "Kai has had his Olympia contract since April but refused to sign it for reasons known only to Kai" he revealed.

"This is the same contract Kai has signed for the past 6 years. Nothing has changed but the dates. If he was banned from competing, why would we send him the contract?" Chang said.

Mr Chang also said he'd heard Kai Greene was banned from the expo, which he said was nonsense.

Despite Kai Greene's video that made it out as if the decision wasn't his, Mr Chang said the decision had always been Kai's.

"If he REALLY wanted to compete, all he had to do was sign the contract and send it back to us, like he has done the past 6 years. The last time I spoke to Kai was with his manager about a month ago when they inquired about a booth at the Olympia. No indication that he wasn’t going to compete. I haven’t spoken to them since."

Mr Chang says that under normal IFBB professional league rules, a competitor has up to a week prior to the competitor check-in to sign his contract.

But because of the size of the Mr Olympia event, they send out the contracts earlier because it takes them longer to promote the show, and they need to know who to put on their posters so they don't mislead ticket buyers.

The deadline was in May but Kai Greene requested an extension, which Mr Chang says he gave him for early July. He also says he reached out to Mr Greene on multiple occasions - even his girlfriend, manager and supplement sponsor.

"At one point, he (Kai Greene) even sent me a text stating 'the contract is already as good as signed, faxed and in your office filing cabinet'" Chang said.

But as of today Mr Chang says he still doesn't have the signed contract from Kai Greene.

"Kai chose to not sign his contract and not do the show. The decision was solely his, as it is for any and all athletes. While we will miss Kai, the Olympia will go on for the other 183 competitors who earned their way into the Olympia to compete this weekend" Chang said.

Weighing into the discussions has been Mark Lobliner, who used to work for Weider publications (American media) from 1999-2003 and who has assisted in the venue side of things for the Olympia in previous lines of employment.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Mr Lobliner says they "never" give away free booth space as it obviously sets a precedent, and says people should keep an open mind on what has really gone on here.

"Let's not just jump off the bridge right now and say: 'alright the IFBB sucks it's all politics they want Phil (Heath) to win,' there's more to it then you know, there's a lot of business involved in this situation, it's business, at the end of the day this is a business" Mr Lobliner said. 

"I'm 90% sure, and again I'm leaving 10% for not knowing all the facts, that they had to draw a line in the sand and they had to say 'you know what, you want a booth or you're not competing? Looks like you're sitting this one out bro."

"This is like the NFL, this is like anything, this is a business" Mr Lobliner said.