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Bev Francis is a Women's Bodybuilding competitor from Australia.

Bev Francis profile photo

1 career win

Bev Francis

CountryAustralia
GenderFemale
Born1955
StatusRetired
High confidence 11 recorded results, Well-verified source Updated August 14, 2026 Accurate?
Missing from this profile

No height or weight on record.

Bev Francis, a bodybuilder from Australia, was born on February 15, 1955 and is 71 years old.

Career Record

Total Results
11
Wins
1
Win Rate
9.1%
Career
1984–1991
Age
71
Country
Australia
Verified
Sources
6

Bev Francis was runner-up at the Ms. Olympia in 1990 and 1991 and on the podium four years before that. She came to bodybuilding from powerlifting and shot put, and was Australian national champion in the latter.

Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 11 recorded contest results. It is published only where a career holds at least five, because below that a single placing moves the figure by twenty points or more.

Every season on record

1984 to 1991 shown · 11 results on record
1984
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
Olympia 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Other
Pro Debut
1984
Olympia Debut
1986
First Win
1987
Last Contest
1991
Bev Francis Olympia Career: 0 title(s). First appeared at the Olympia in 1986 and placed 10. Source: Fitness Volt Bodybuilding Database.
Year Placement Division
1986 10 Women's Bodybuilding
1987 3 Women's Bodybuilding
1988 3 Women's Bodybuilding
1989 3 Women's Bodybuilding
1990 2 Women's Bodybuilding
1991 2 Women's Bodybuilding

Data updated

Known for

Six Olympia appearances between 1986 and 1991, with third in 1987, 1988 and 1989 and second in 1990 and 1991. She won the World Pro Championships in 1987.

Her physique was more muscular than the judging of the time was willing to reward, and the argument about whether it should have been is one of the defining disputes in the division's history. She finished second twice and never won it.

Early career

She was a powerlifter and a national shot put champion in Australia before she competed in bodybuilding at all, and the strength background is what produced a build the sport had not seen in a woman.

Our database holds eleven contests for her, between 1984 and 1991, and one win.

Championship record

Championship appearances

Counted from the same results table below: an appearance is one recorded placing at that series, a title is a first place, and Top 3 counts first, second and third together. The last row is every contest on record for Bev Francis, amateur shows included.

Ms. Olympia

6Appearances
0Titles
5Top 3

All contests on record

11Contests
1Wins
9Top 3

All results

Every contest result on record for Bev Francis, 11 in all. Won by names the winner of the division Bev Francis competed in, and shows a dash where that winner cannot be pinned to one person in the database.

YearContestDivisionPlaceWon by
1991 Ms. Olympia Women's Bodybuilding #2 Lenda Murray
1990 Ms. Olympia Women's Bodybuilding #2 Lenda Murray
1989 Ms. Olympia Women's Bodybuilding #3 Cory Everson
1988 Ms. Olympia Women's Bodybuilding #3 Cory Everson
1987 Ms. Olympia Women's Bodybuilding #3 Cory Everson
1987 World Pro Championships Women's Bodybuilding #1 Winner
1986 Gran Prix Los Angeles Women's Bodybuilding #3 Diana Dennis
1986 Los Angeles Pro Championships Women's Bodybuilding #3 Diana Dennis
1986 Ms International Women's Bodybuilding #3 Erica Giesen
1986 Ms. Olympia Women's Bodybuilding #10 Cory Everson
1984 Grand Prix Las Vegas Women's Bodybuilding #8 Carla Dunlap

Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for Bev Francis those sources are Wikipedia and MuscleMemory. Open any contest above and that page names its own source and links to it where the source is still reachable. MuscleMemory is the exception: the archive we recorded those older shows from no longer answers at the addresses we hold, so it is credited by name and not offered as a link.

Legacy

Francis is the competitor the question was asked about: how muscular a woman is allowed to be before the judges stop rewarding it. The sport has never settled it, and her two runner-up finishes are the record of it being asked.

Sources

Competition placings on this page come from our own contest database and cover 1984 to 1991.

Her powerlifting and shot put background is carried from the biography previously held in our corpus.

In 8 meetings, Bev Francis finished ahead of Diana Dennis 5 times to 3.

Opponents are ranked by how often they shared a stage and how big the stage was, not by reputation. A meeting is one contest where both competed in the same division and both were placed.

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