0
ahead
7
behind
John Brown won the tall class at the World Championships three years running, in 1980, 1981 and 1982, and the Mr Universe tall class in 1981 and 1982. He competed at the Mr Olympia in 1985.
Known for
Three consecutive World Championships class titles is the record, and he took the Mr Universe alongside two of them. For three years he was the best tall amateur in the world by any measure the sport was using.
He was runner-up at the 1983 Mr Universe and third at the 1983 World Championships, which ended the run.
Early career
He won the teenage class at Mr Los Angeles in 1976 and the open title there in 1977, then spent three years placing second and third around California before the international wins started in 1979 with the Junior Mr America tall class.
His single Mr. Olympia appearance came in 1985, where he placed fourteenth. The record ends in 1991.
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 John Brown.
Mr. Olympia
1Appearance
0Titles
0Top 3
All contests on record
12Contests
0Wins
0Top 3
Professional results
Every professional contest result on record for John Brown, 12 in all. Won by names the winner of the division John Brown competed in, and shows a dash where that winner cannot be pinned to one person in the database.
| Year | Contest | Division | Place | Won by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Ironman Pro Invitational | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #12 | J J Marsh |
| 1991 | San Jose Pro Invitational | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #10 | Ron Love |
| 1989 | Grand Prix Melbourne | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #10 | Gary Strydom |
| 1989 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #9 | Robby Robinson |
| 1987 | Detroit Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #8 | Mike Ashley |
| 1986 | Los Angeles Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | Unplaced | Rich Gaspari |
| 1986 | Night of Champions | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #16 | Lee Labrada |
| 1986 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #14 | Rich Gaspari |
| 1985 | Mr. Olympia | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #14 | Lee Haney |
| 1985 | Night of Champions | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #10 | Albert Beckles |
| 1984 | Canada Pro Cup | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #9 | Albert Beckles |
| 1984 | World Grand Prix | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #9 | Albert Beckles |
Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for John Brown that source is MuscleMemory. Open any contest above and that page names its own source and links to it where the source is still reachable. That archive no longer answers at the addresses we hold, so it is credited by name here and not offered as a link.
Every professional season
Olympia
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
Other
- Pro Debut
- 1984
- Olympia Debut
- 1985
- Last Contest
- 1991
Physique benchmark
How John Brown 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.
29.9FFMI
29.6Normalised FFMI
163rdOf 316 measured men
The closest Olympia champion on that measure is Arnold Schwarzenegger, at 29.6, 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 John Brown sits among the athletes we hold measurements for, not among competitors.
Amateur and other shows not counted above
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Mr Universe | Division not recorded (Tall) | #2 |
| 1983 | World Championships | Division not recorded (Professional) | #3 |
| 1982 | Mr Universe | Division not recorded (Tall) | #1 |
| 1982 | World Championships | Division not recorded (Tall) | #1 |
| 1981 | Mr Universe | Division not recorded (Tall) | #1 |
| 1981 | World Championships | Division not recorded (Tall) | #1 |
| 1980 | Mr America | Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) | #6 |
| 1980 | Mr California | Division not recorded (Tall) | #2 |
| 1980 | World Championships | Division not recorded (Tall) | #1 |
| 1979 | Junior Mr America | Division not recorded (Tall) | #1 |
| 1979 | Mr America | Division not recorded (Tall) | #6 |
| 1979 | Mr California | Division not recorded (Tall) | #3 |
| 1979 | Mr Western America | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #1 |
| 1978 | Junior Mr America | Division not recorded (Tall) | #3 |
| 1978 | Junior Mr USA | Division not recorded (Tall) | #3 |
| 1977 | Mr Los Angeles | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #1 |
| 1977 | Mr Southern California | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #3 |
| 1976 | Gold's Classic | Division not recorded (Tall) | #2 |
| 1976 | Mr Los Angeles | Division not recorded (Teen) | #1 |
| 1975 | Mr California | Division not recorded (Teen) | #3 |
| 1975 | Mr Southern California | Division not recorded (Teen) | #3 |
More Men's Open Bodybuilding athletes Athletes from United States
Legacy
Brown's three World titles came in the years immediately before the Olympia became the only contest that counted. Careers built on the amateur world circuit stopped translating shortly afterwards, and the competitors who had them largely stopped being discussed.
Most-met rivals
Compare any two athletes →In 7 meetings, Albert Beckles finished ahead of John Brown 7 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.
0
ahead
6
behind
0
ahead
6
behind
0
ahead
6
behind
2
ahead
1
behind
0
ahead
5
behind
Sources
Competition placings on this page come from our own contest database and cover his record from 1975 to 1991.
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.