The world of bodybuilding has been shaken by the news of one of its most famous exponents. Czech Illia Golem, aged 36, passed away last Friday. The news was released in the last few hours.
Golem was known as “the mutant” and “the most monstrous bodybuilder in the world” and stood out for his physique: he weighed 165 kilos, was 1.85 meters tall and consumed 16 thousand calories per day. His diet included seven meals a day. He mainly ate meat and sushi. In addition, to achieve his exuberant physique and achieve muscle growth, he injected himself with insulin.
He also used Synthol, an injectable oil, which may have been the cause of his death, although it has not yet been determined.
The BBC called those who consume Synthol “human Hulks” in reference to the character from the television series. César Kálazich, a sports medicine specialist at the MEDS Clinic in Chile, described it thus: “It is a mixture of oil (85% medium chain triglycerides or MCT), lidocaine (7.5% local anesthetic) and benzyl alcohol (7.5%) that is injected directly into the muscle, and acts as an implant, causing an immediate increase in volume.”
Consumption of the substance can cause everything from “chronic pain associated with the injection” to “infections and abscesses at the puncture site, which can lead to surgery or amputation of the affected limb.” According to Kalazich, “there is a risk of fat embolisms in the lungs or brain (transport of a large amount of oil through a venous or arterial blood vessel, respectively), which can lead to severe lung or brain damage, even death.”
Born in 1988, Golem left his native Czech Republic to settle in Miami. He was obsessed with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone from a young age. In addition to achieving his goal of making an impact with his figure, Golem was also a notable weightlifter: 272 kilos in the bench press and 317 kilos in the deadlift.
“As a kid, I wanted to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone in Rambo. And I wanted people to see me as a monster when they saw me. I wanted to be as strong as my Hollywood idols. A gym opened in my small town and I started going there to become the Hulk,” he said in an interview.
His fame transcended the bodybuilding world when, in October 2023, it was revealed that he had consumed 108 sushis in a single day. Perhaps one can quote in his obituary a stanza by Jorge Luis Borges from his poem The Golem, about the mythical figure, of the same name as the bodybuilder, and also born on Czech soil, shaped by a rabbi:
“The drill raised the sleepy ones
eyelids and saw shapes and colors
who did not understand, lost in rumors
and tried out fearful moves.”
