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3 career wins
George Peterson
CountryUnited States
GenderMale
Pro Card2019
DivisionMen's 212 Bodybuilding
Born1984
DiedOctober 6, 2021, aged 37
StatusRetired
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.
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 contest entered (in the years the Olympia also judged weight classes, one appearance can carry two placings), an Olympia title is the overall win in that division, and Top 3 counts first, second and third together. The last row is every professional contest on record for George Peterson.
Classic Physique Olympia
3Appearances
0Titles
3Top 3
212 Olympia
1Appearance
0Titles
1Top 3
Arnold Classic
1Appearance
0Titles
1Top 3
All contests on record
12Contests
3Wins
11Top 3
Professional results
Every professional contest result on record for George Peterson, 12 in all. 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.
| Year | Contest | Division | Place | Won 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 |
Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for George Peterson those sources are NPC Contests 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.
Every professional season
Peak Year 2020 (2 wins)
Measured against George Peterson’s own seasons, not against the field. See the full peak window →
Olympia
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
Other
- Pro Debut
- 2017
- Last Contest
- 2020
George Peterson at the Olympia, year by year
| Year | Placement | Division |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 3 | Classic Physique |
| 2018 | 3 | Classic Physique |
| 2019 | 3 | Classic Physique |
Data updated
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: 74 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.
Amateur and other shows not counted above
9 results from amateur shows and other contests this archive does not class as professional. Every total on this page covers the professional career only, so these are listed here but never counted, and they have no contest page.
Show the list
| Year | Contest | Division | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Eastern USA Championships | Men's Classic Physique (Class B) | #1 |
| 2016 | Nationals | Men's Classic Physique (Class B) | #1 |
| 2013 | Eastern USA Championships | Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) | #3 |
| 2013 | IFBB North American Championships | Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) | #18 |
| 2013 | Nationals | Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) | Unplaced |
| 2012 | Junior Nationals | Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) | #9 |
| 2012 | New York Metro Championships | Men's Bodybuilding (Light Heavyweight) | #1 |
| 2011 | Team Universe Championships | Men's Bodybuilding (Light Heavyweight) | #3 |
| 2008 | New York Metro Championships | Men's Bodybuilding (Middleweight) | #7 |
More Men's 212 Bodybuilding athletes Athletes from United States George Peterson peak window George Peterson division journey
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.
Most-met rivals
Compare any two athletes →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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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.
Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 12 professional 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.
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