Arnold and Franco Columbu: 51 years of friendship – and still in the gym
They met in Stuttgart in 1965 and stayed training partners to the end: on his channel Arnold Schwarzenegger shows a workout with his best friend Franco Columbu.
Photo: Unbekannter Fotograf / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · Arnold Schwarzenegger · youtube.com
On his official YouTube channel Arnold Schwarzenegger has posted a video he calls “The 51 Year Bromance”: in it he trains with Franco Columbu, his best friend and long-time training partner. The number in the title is no accident – the two met in 1965 at a bodybuilding competition in Stuttgart.
Columbu, born in 1941 in Ollolai, Sardinia, was a boxer before he turned to lifting. He won Mr. Olympia twice (1976 and 1981) and was considered one of the strongest bodybuilders of his era – Wikipedia lists, among other lifts, a 750-pound (about 340 kg) deadlift. He also trained as a chiropractor, graduating in 1977, and appears alongside Arnold in “Pumping Iron”.
The friendship lasted a lifetime: Columbu was best man at Schwarzenegger’s 1986 wedding and godfather to his daughter Christina. He died on 30 August 2019, aged 78, in Sardinia after feeling unwell while swimming. The video shows what training over decades can also be: time spent with people who push you.
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