Who is Reg Park from Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder and what is their importance?

Reg Park was Arnold's ideal from the moment he saw his photograph in the American magazines he studied as a teenager in Austria. He is the epitome of all that Arnold desires in his physique and ambitions, especially when he stars in a film "Hercules and the Vampires," in which he portrays Hercules.

Arnold was obsessed with Park during his early training and after coming in second at the London Mr. Universe contest, Arnold began a correspondence Park, and later met him in London. The two performed in exhibitions all over England, and while touring, Arnold made special note of Reg Parker's routines and training methods.

Armold later visited Reg in South Africa and stayed with Reg and his wife in Johannesburg. In 1970, Arnold traveled to London from California to compete in the NABBA Mr. Universe contest a contest that he viewed as a prelude to his ultimate goal of beating Sergio Oliva in the Mr. World contest in Columbus, Ohio. To his amazement, he found that he was up against Reg Park, who was staging a comeback. Arnold's initial reaction to leave the contest and give his idol and friend a clear field, but he went on with the contest and won..... Reg Park came in second. He had beaten his idol, the man whose pictures hung all over his bedroom and whose words he had lived and trained by.