Serge Nubret
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| Serge Nubret | |
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| Born | October 6, 1938 Guadaloupe |
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Serge Nubret (Born October 6, 1938 in Anse-Bertrand, north of Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe) is a bodybuilding federation leader, movie actor and more recently book author awarded many bodybuilding titles including Mr. Europe (1966), Mr. Universe (1976) and Mr. World (1977). Serge equally challenged opponent Arnold Schwarzenegger for the title of Mr. Olympia 1975 after having placing third in 1973 to Arnold Schwarzenegger and two time Mr. Olympia Sergio Oliva. In a decision that remains controversial to this day, Schwarzenegger took the title ahead of Nubret, while Ferrigno finished third. Serge Nubret's nickname is "The Black Panther."
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[edit] Youth
Serge Nubret spent his first years in Anse-Bertrand in a community of 7,000 people. He spent nearly 12 years of his life enjoying fresh air playing outdoors before moving with his parents to the region of Paris, France in 1950. He lived thereafter in the community of Joinville-le-Pont, completing his secondary studies before choosing a business program. During his adolescence and young adulthood, he quickly became aware of his exceptional potential for athletics and recalls this reflection in his book I Am…Me and God; in his own words, his dedicating himself to bodybuilding was to become his "reason of being." He explains in his book his destiny of a fixed champion assigned to him by God ["I Am"]. He returned in Guadeloupe in 1958 in order to escape the draft for the Algerian war. It was during this period of his life he discovered bodybuilding, which he practiced simultaneously while pursuing business accounting. Bodybuilding was not encouraged by his father at the time who was concerned that it did not have as much potential for financial income as an accounting career.
[edit] Bodybuilding Champion and Film Star
Three months after entering the world of bodybuilding, Serge won the title of Mr. Guadeloupe, which he won again the following year as well. He was sent in 1960 to Montreal to show the flag of Guadeloupe in support for his country at the time of the World Championship organized by the International Federation of BodyBuilders. It was there Nubret was named "Most Muscular Man of the World." Returning next to Paris without going to Guadeloupe, he was contacted by the Films Ariane for a role in a Duccio Tessari Italian péplum film called "The Titans" which was released in 1961 and was prelude to a rich career of 25 films:
- Le condé, (a.k.a. The Cop) (1970)
- Caesar and Rosalie, co-starring Yves Montand (1972)
- The Professional, co-starring Jean-Paul Belmondo (1981)
In the 1980s, Serge appeared regularly in 60 episodes of the television series Breakfast Included, with Pierre Mondy and Marie-Christine Barrault, in which he played the role of bodybuilder/gym owner in Paris, a role that mirrors his own biography.
At last, he appeared in the documentary film Pumping Iron, alongside Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a documentary that follows the events occurring before the Mr. Olympia 1975--the preparation for the competition as well as its final phase. For contract reasons, his part is comparatively brief; certain scenes concerning him could not be put in the movie. But these episodes are discussed further in his book, I am…Me and God.
[edit] Athlete and Leader
During the 1970s, Nubret finished third to the Mr. Olympia in 1973 and second in 1975. Vice President of the IFBB Europe of 1970-1975, Nubret then founded the WABBA in 1976. He competed up to 1984, when he won his last title of champion of the world to the WABBA. Nubret caused quite a stir in Gravelines in 2003, when he guest posed at the WABBA World Chanpionship at the age of 65.
[edit] List of Bodybuilding Awards
- 1958: Mr. Guadeloupe
- 1960: IFBB World Most Muscular Man
- 1970: NABBA Mister Universe 2nd
- 1970: IFBB Mr. Europe (Tall)
- 1972: IFBB Mr. Olympia (3rd place)
- 1973: IFBB Mr. Olympia (2nd)
- 1974: IFBB Mr. Olympia (Heavy Weight, 3rd place)
- 1975: IFBB Mr. Olympia (Heavy Weight, 2nd) (Ben Weider, the president of IFBB, told Nubret that he could not compete because he was apparently "overweight," according to Nubret himself on the bodybuilding forums on bodyspace.com. This was 12 days before the IFBB Mr. Olympia event and for those 12 days, Nubret did not train and instead dieted and lost weight to be qualified for the IFBB event. He had lost 12 pounds in that period of time.)
- 1976: Pro NABBA Mr. Universe
- 1976: WBBG Mr. World (2nd)
- 1977: WBBG Mr. World
- 1977: WBBG Mr. Olympus
- 1981: Pro WABBA World Championships
- 1982: Pro WABBA World Championships
[edit] I am… Me and God
In 2006, 68-year-old Serge Nubret penned the book I am…Me and God in collaboration with Louis-Xavier Babin-Lachaud. The book is not only autobiographical in nature, but it also includes his personal reflections on his Christian faith and mysticism of the author. Through his life narrative, it adopts a definite position on the role of God in this world, on the conflict between destiny and free will and on the illusion of this world. More than an assembly of memories, the book indicates the will to succeed and to follow the way traced by God, love of the "reason to be" author, that is not other than the bodybuilding. A second work, completely autobiographical, is to come.
