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George Peterson was a Men's 212 Bodybuilding competitor from the United States. George Peterson has a verified height of 5'7" (170 cm) and a recorded contest weight of 190 lb (86 kg).

George Peterson profile photo

6 career wins

George Peterson

GenderMale
Pro Card2019
Born1984
DiedOctober 6, 2021, aged 37
StatusRetired
High confidence 21 recorded results, Official/primary source Updated August 14, 2026 Accurate?

George Peterson, a bodybuilder from the United States, stands 5'7" (170 cm) tall and competed at a contest weight of around 190 lb (86 kg). He was born on June 20, 1984 and died on October 6, 2021, aged 37.

Career Record

Total Results
21
Wins
6
Win Rate
28.6%
Career
2008–2020
Height
5'7" (170 cm)
Weight
190 lb (86 kg)
Lifespan
1984-2021 (aged 37)
Country
United States
Verified
Sources
23

George Peterson finished third at the Mr. Olympia in Classic Physique three years running, then moved up to the 212 division and finished third there too. He died in Orlando in October 2021, at 37, days before he was due on the Olympia stage again.

Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 21 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

2008 to 2020 shown · 21 results on record

Peak Year 2016 (2 wins)

Measured against George Peterson’s own seasons, not against the field. See the full peak window →

2008
2011
2012
2013
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Olympia 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Other
Pro Debut
2008
First Win
2012
Peak Year
2016
Olympia Debut
2017
Last Contest
2020
George Peterson Olympia Career: 0 title(s). First appeared at the Olympia in 2017 and placed 3. Source: Fitness Volt Bodybuilding Database.
Year Placement Division
2017 3 Classic Physique
2018 3 Classic Physique
2019 3 Classic Physique

Data updated

Known for

Peterson is one of very few competitors to reach an Olympia podium in two divisions. Third in Classic Physique in 2017, 2018 and 2019, then third in the 212 in 2020, the first year he entered it.

The nickname, Da Bull, described the build: 5 feet 7 inches and thickly muscled in a division that usually rewards line over mass. He won the Tampa Pro twice, in Classic Physique in 2017 and in the 212 in 2020, and was runner-up at the 2019 Arnold Classic.

Early career

He first appears in our record in 2008 and spent eight years as an amateur, taking third in the light heavyweights at the 2011 Team Universe and winning the New York Metro Championships in 2012.

Classic Physique was introduced as a division in 2016 and suited him immediately. He won his class at the Eastern USA Championships and then at the Nationals in the same year, which carried his professional card. His first professional season ended with third at the 2017 Olympia.

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 George Peterson, amateur shows included.

Classic Physique Olympia

4Appearances
0Titles
4Top 3

Arnold Classic

1Appearances
0Titles
1Top 3

All contests on record

21Contests
6Wins
16Top 3
Physique benchmark

How George Peterson measures up

Fat-free mass index turns the height and weight on this profile into one number for how much muscle a frame carries, so a shorter competitor is not flattered by a bodyweight comparison. The normalised figure adjusts it again to a standard height, which is the version worth ranking. Both assume the 6% body fat a competitor steps on stage at, because that is the only condition the recorded weight was taken in.

28.0FFMI
28.6Normalised FFMI
187thOf 316 measured men

The closest Olympia champion on that measure is Breon Ansley, at 28.6, the same figure.

What this rank is not. This database holds a height and a weight for just 463 athletes, and they are overwhelmingly the ones somebody bothered to measure: 73 of them hold an Olympia title. Almost every competitor on record carries no measurement at all. The pool also mixes every division and era together, from the lightweight women's classes to the open heavyweights, so it ranks size and nothing else. It says where George Peterson sits among the athletes we hold measurements for, not among competitors.

All results

Every contest result on record for George Peterson, 21 in all. The table opens on the first 15 and expands in place from there. Nothing sits on a separate page. Won by names the winner of the division George Peterson competed in, and shows a dash where that winner cannot be pinned to one person in the database.

YearContestDivisionPlaceWon by
2020 IFBB Tampa Pro Men's 212 Bodybuilding #1 Winner
2020 212 Olympia Men's 212 Bodybuilding #3 Shaun Clarida
2020 Tampa Pro Championships Men's 212 Bodybuilding #1 Winner
2019 Arnold Classic Men's Classic Physique #2 Breon Ansley
2019 Classic Physique Olympia Men's Classic Physique #3 Chris Bumstead
2018 Classic Physique Olympia Men's Classic Physique #3 Breon Ansley
2017 Chicago Pro Championships Men's Classic Physique #2 Cleveland Thomas
2017 IFBB New York Pro Men's Classic Physique #2 Breon Ansley
2017 IFBB Tampa Pro Men's Classic Physique #1 Winner
2017 IFBB Vancouver Pro Men's Classic Physique #6 Rylon McDuell-Batiste
2017 IFBB Wings of Strength Chicago Pro Men's Classic Physique #2 Cleveland Thomas
2017 Classic Physique Olympia Men's Classic Physique #3 Breon Ansley
2016 Eastern USA Championships Men's Classic Physique #1 Winner
2016 Nationals Men's Classic Physique #1 Winner
2013 Eastern USA Championships Men's Open Bodybuilding #3 Eslam Mohamed
2013 IFBB North American Championships Men's Open Bodybuilding #18
2013 Nationals Men's Open Bodybuilding Unplaced Kevin Jordan
2012 Junior Nationals Men's Open Bodybuilding #9 Anthony Pasquale
2012 New York Metro Championships Men's Open Bodybuilding #1 Winner
2011 Team Universe Championships Men's Open Bodybuilding #3 Panexce Pierre
2008 New York Metro Championships Men's Open Bodybuilding #7 Jason Joseph

Showing 15 of 21 recorded results. Showing all 21 recorded results.

Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for George Peterson those sources are MuscleMemory and NPC Contests. 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.

Death

Peterson died in Orlando on 6 October 2021, during the week of the Mr. Olympia, where he was entered in the 212. He was 37.

His death was confirmed by his family and by the federation. The medical findings that followed are not reproduced here.

Legacy

Three consecutive Olympia podiums in Classic Physique and a fourth in the 212 would define most careers, and Peterson built it across four professional seasons.

Classic Physique was five years old when he died. He was one of the handful of competitors who set what the division was supposed to look like, at the point where that was still being decided.

Sources

Competition placings on this page come from our own contest database and cover his record from 2008 to 2020. His date of death is also held in our database.

Two of his results, the 2017 Chicago Pro and the 2020 Tampa Pro, are stored twice under different division labels and appear as two rows each in the table below.

In 3 meetings, Chris Bumstead finished ahead of George Peterson 3 times to 0.

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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