{"id":16777,"date":"2026-03-30T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16777"},"modified":"2026-03-30T15:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:41:00","slug":"ulster-hes-back-schwarzenegger-recalls-breakthrough-on-return-to-belfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16777","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ulster he\u2019s back\u2019: Schwarzenegger recalls \u2018breakthrough\u2019 on return to Belfast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke of the \u201cbreakthrough\u201d he experienced in Belfast as he was presented with an honorary degree.<\/h2>\n
Schwarzenegger, 78, said it was \u201cunbelievable\u201d to be back in the city where he had his first taste of public speaking, 60 years after his first visit. The Austrian-born star received the honorary doctorate from Ulster University in recognition of his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy, and the arts. He arrived to a red carpet welcome, as students cheered and held signs reading \u201cUlster he\u2019s back\u201d and \u201cHasta La Vista Ulster\u201d, while some brought copies of his movie Terminator 2. The actor first visited the city for a bodybuilding competition in 1966, when the sport was in its infancy, and years before his acting debut in the 1970 film Hercules in New York. He told the students on arrival his trip is \u201ckind of a 60-year anniversary\u201d. \u201cSo I came here, I was invited by Ivan Dunbar, this Irish man, I think his family is here\u2026 he passed away I\u2019m sad to say, but that\u2019s where my beginning was, in Ireland, in Belfast. \u201cAnd it\u2019s wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland and to kind of get to see, this is not something that I dreamt of when I was 19-years-old, when I was here 60 years ago, that one day I will be coming here to get an honorary doctorate degree, it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d Students lined the atrium in the university to listen to Schwarzenegger\u2019s speech and cheered as he turned to hold up his award. In his speech he said that in that 1966 competition in Northern Ireland his body building idol Roy \u201cReg\u201d Park encouraged him to speak on stage to the crowd. \u201cSo I walked over to the microphone, thinking \u2018he wants me to do another muscular shot, or something like that\u2019, no, he asked me a question,\u201d he said. \u201cHe said, \u2018how do you like it here?\u2019 and I\u2019m now almost fainting, because I\u2019ve never, ever spoken in public before, and we don\u2019t have to tell you the fear that we all have of public speaking, so to me, I had this always, I had almost a heart attack.\u201d He added: \u201cSo then (Reg) said to me, says, Okay, tell them, \u2018I like Belfast\u2019. So I said, \u2018I like Belfast\u2019 again, standing ovation, everyone jumping up, you gave me great applause. \u201cThen he says, tell him that you\u2019re going to be back and then I said, \u2018I come back\u2019 \u2013 at that time, I didn\u2019t say I\u2019ll be back that was before Terminator \u2013 so I said, \u2018I come back\u2019. \u201cSo anyway, standing ovation, he said \u2018thank you very much, that was fantastic, the first time you spoke in public, you did such a great job and your English is great\u2019 and all this stuff. \u201cAnd then afterwards I left, I said to myself, \u2018oh my God, I thought I\u2019m going to die when I speak in front of people, but this was the most encouraging audience\u2019. \u201cSo what I\u2019m saying is what happened that day in Belfast was so important to me, because every single time afterwards, when I won a competition, I went to the microphone and said thank you very much for making me the winner, being Mr Universe, it\u2019s great to be in London, or it\u2019s great to be New York, or wherever it was and I thanked the audience, and said, \u2018thank you fans for being so enthusiastic\u2019. \u201cAnd I said a few words, and each time I said, more and more and more, they eventually couldn\u2019t shut me up. \u201cI love talking so much in public, so this is what I\u2019m talking about, this was a breakthrough. \u201cI always tell people about that breakthrough that happened here in Belfast. \u201cThis is why I have such fond memories of Belfast, and this is why it is so great to be back now.\u201d Following a ceremony to present the honorary degree, Schwarzenegger answered questions from broadcaster Holly Hamilton, where he encouraged students not to \u201cwaste a minute, just study and study and study\u201d. \u201cBecause while you\u2019re wasting a minute, someone else is going to study and you want to make sure that you are ahead of everyone else,\u201d he said. \u201cThe world is a very competitive place, and I want you to succeed, and I want you to create a vision and have a goal.\u201d Dancers performed a Terminator-themed Irish traditional dance routine, donning sunglasses with the famous single red eye. Following the ceremony Schwarzenegger then met with Sandra Weir, one of the women featured in a picture of the young bodybuilder on his first visit to Belfast 60 years ago. Reminiscing on her first meeting with a 19-year-old Schwarzenegger, Ms Weir said: \u201cHe was very, very easy to talk to, you know and he was gabbling away and everything, we didn\u2019t know what he was saying.\u201d She said the pair \u201chad a good laugh\u201d during their brief reunion on Monday, saying \u201che was in good form, good form then and even good form now\u201d. Schwarzenegger also met with 89-year-old Eric Downey, a natural bodybuilder from Belfast, and the daughter of Ivan Dunbar, the man he stayed with during his first visit 60 years ago. Before leaving, he signed a poster and a childhood drawing done by a member of the security staff at Ulster University. Simon Aldworth said it was a \u201clifetime\u201d dream to meet the Terminator star, saying \u201cyou can actually see that my hands are shaking\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018Ulster](\"https:\/\/www.radionewshub.com\/_media\/images\/news\/categories\/01KMZKVFM93JSPM8B0N28PC0QE-9355cc.jpg\")
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