International Federation of BodyBuilders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) is a bodybuilding organization founded in 1946 by Ben and Joe Weider. The IFBB is responsible for the Mr. Olympia, World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships, and Ms. International competitions. The IFBB also held the Masters Olympia from 1994 - 2003.
In November 2004, the IFBB congress voted to change the long name of the organisation to the International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness. The logo and "IFBB" acronym remain unchanged.
[edit] History
Until the 1940s the bodybuilding scene was controlled by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The Weider's decided to form the IFBB after concerns that the AAU was more interested in promoting the Olympic sport of weightlifting than bodybuilding. The IFBB was setup to give "physique athletes" (bodybuilders) center stage. The first IFBB contest was held in 1949 - the IFBB Mr. America.
This angered the AAU (which had held their own AAU Mr. America contest since 1939) and a bitter feud ensued. This resulted in the AAU banning anyone from entering their contests if they had previously competed for the IFBB.
[edit] Olympics
Since the 1980s the IFBB president, Ben Weider, has been petitioning the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion of bodybuilding in the Olympic Games. For many years there was no success until January 30, 1998 when the IFBB was made a provisional member. The membership was made permanent on 1 August 2000. The IFBB then petitioned the Greek organising committee to demonstrate the sport at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. They failed in gaining a demonstration and the current state of bodybuilding at the Olympics is unknown.
