Posted by There was a time when science had figured out that a human could not cover a mile in under 4 minutes. The legs could not move fast enough. So everybody accepted that until Roger Bannister did it. And once it had been done all within a couple of years, all of the other milers were running 4-minute miles. He had broken that psychological barrier by doing it. So I’m hoping that breaking that psychological barrier that you have to deteriorate at your age, that fear of aging. You don’t have to fear it. Control it.– Jim Morris
Jim Morris, A 78-year-old vegan bodybuilder as of today. He is one of the early guys or pioneers in the world of bodybuilding.
His highest point of his career was in the Mr. America 1973 contest. He won in this contest with a winning margin of 30 points. Prior to that, the record had only been at 21 points set by the first Mr. America. The first record was lasted for 39 years before Jim broke it.
Morris won a total of 3 records. First, he had the highest point margin (30 points). Second, he was the only first openly-gay who won in the competition and third for being the oldest competitor at age 37. The next oldest person was 35. Up until now, all of his three records still stands.
He considers winning in the Mr. America was the worst disaster in his life. He had horrible experiences with the magazines kept questioning not only the 30-point margin but whether he should have won at all. After he won that night, his name was never mentioned even once and he was never be on the cover of the magazine that reported the contest. The winners of Mr. America are always on the front page, but not Jim. He was never been on any cover of a magazine.
He is a vegan for more than a decade now. He also care about getting other people involved and he wants to change people’s feelings and attitudes toward animals.
Up until now, he is still dealing with the Mr. America win and that’s his motivation.
In winning Mr. America as an openly-gay African American in the early 70s, Jim experienced a great deal of prejudice and rejection. The desire to help overturn the stereotypes of those who have been oppressed has fueled Jim to continue training.
Now, Jim has decided to go back into training to show what is possible for someone to achieve at his age.