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2 career wins

Mike Mentzer

GenderMale
Born1951
DiedJune 10, 2001, aged 49
Born inEphrata, Pennsylvania, United States
StatusRetired

Mike Mentzer was a Men's Open Bodybuilding competitor from the United States with a competitive record spanning 1979–1980.

About

Michael John Mentzer was an American IFBB professional bodybuilder, businessman, and author. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mentzer started bodybuilding when he was eleven years old. He won several amateur bodybuilding competitions before turning professional in 1979, including the 1976 Mr. America title and the heavyweight division of the 1978 IFBB Mr. Universe.

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 Mike Mentzer.

Mr. Olympia

2Appearances
0Titles
1Top 3

All contests on record

6Contests
2Wins
5Top 3

Professional results

Every professional contest result on record for Mike Mentzer, 6 in all. Won by names the winner of the division Mike Mentzer competed in, and shows a dash where that winner cannot be pinned to one person in the database.

YearContestDivisionPlaceWon by
1980 Mr. Olympia Men's Open Bodybuilding #5 Arnold Schwarzenegger
1979 Canada Pro Cup Men's Open Bodybuilding #2 Chris Dickerson
1979 Florida Pro Invitational Men's Open Bodybuilding #1 Winner
1979 Mr. Olympia Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #1 Winner
1979 Night of Champions Men's Open Bodybuilding #3 Robby Robinson
1979 Pittsburgh Pro Invitational Men's Open Bodybuilding #2 Robby Robinson

Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for Mike Mentzer 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

1979 to 1980 shown · 6 professional results

Peak Year 1979 (2 wins)

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

1979
1980
Olympia 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Other
Pro Debut
1979
Last Contest
1980

Mike Mentzer at the Olympia, year by year

Mike Mentzer at the Mr. Olympia: no title, first appearance 1979. In 1979 the Olympia also judged weight classes before naming one overall champion; Mike Mentzer's heavyweight class win that year counts as a win on this page but not as a Mr. Olympia title. Source: Fitness Volt Bodybuilding Database.
Year Placement Division
1979 1 Men's Open Bodybuilding (heavyweight class)
1980 5 Men's Open Bodybuilding

Data updated

Physique benchmark

How Mike Mentzer 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.

32.1FFMI
32.5Normalised FFMI
99thOf 316 measured men

The closest Olympia champion on that measure is Lee Haney, at 32.1.

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 Mike Mentzer sits among the athletes we hold measurements for, not among competitors.

Amateur and other shows not counted above

14 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
YearContestDivisionPlace
1978 USA vs the World Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #1
1978 USA World Qualifier Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #1
1978 World Amateur Championships Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #1
1977 North American Championships Men's Bodybuilding (Middleweight) #1
1977 Universe Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #2
1976 Mr America Division not recorded (Medium) #1
1976 Universe Men's Bodybuilding (Middleweight) #2
1975 Mr America Division not recorded (Medium) #3
1975 Mr East Coast Division not recorded (Medium) #2
1975 Mr USA Division not recorded (Medium) #2
1971 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #10
1971 Teen Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #2
1971 Teen Mr America Division not recorded (Most Muscular) #2
1970 Mr Pennsylvania Men's Open Bodybuilding #1

In 4 meetings, Mike Mentzer finished ahead of Roy Callendar 4 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.

Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 6 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.

High confidence 6 professional results, Well-verified source Updated September 30, 2026 Accurate?

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