In 1946, the IFBB was founded by brothers
Ben and
Joe Weider in
Montreal, Canada, under the name "International Federation of Bodybuilders". The two founding countries were
Canada and the
United States. Ben Weider was the first IFBB President. In 1965 the first IFBB Mr. Olympia was held; the IFBB's first contest. From 1966 to 1970, the Federation experienced rapid growth as Joe and Ben Weider promoted the organization globally. By 1970, the IFBB had directors in more than 50 countries worldwide and the IFBB had its footprint in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, and South America. On September 4, 1970, the IFBB held its 1st International Congress in
Belgrade,
Yugoslavia, where a Constitution was adopted and an Executive Council. Also in 1971, the IFBB became a member of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), now
SportAccord. Upon receiving membership, the IFBB became the only official representative of bodybuilding to be recognized by world sport authorities. From the 1980s to his death in 2008, IFBB president Ben Weider petitioned the IOC for inclusion of bodybuilding in the
Olympic Games. Although bodybuilding had never been on the Olympic Program, in 1998, the IOC granted the IFBB provisional recognition, which lasted nearly four years, but was withdrawn in 2001. In 2004, the IFBB was renamed the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness but retained the "IFBB" abbreviation. The following year, the IFBB adopted new IFBB Anti-Doping Rules following the
World Anti-Doping Code. The IFBB Professional Section was legally split from the IFBB to form the
IFBB Professional League, its own legal entity with its own rules and regulations. In turn, the IFBB Constitution became a governing document for the amateur sport only. In 2006, after 60 years, Ben Weider resigned from his role as president and Rafael Santonja from Spain was elected as the new president. The IFBB headquarters were moved to
Las Rozas de Madrid,
Spain. In 2010, Santonja was reelected for a second term, and in 2014, he was reelected for a third time at the IFBB World Congress in
Brasília.
Name Change At some point the name has changed from International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness to the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation, this possibly occurred when the split between the
IFBB Professional League / IFBB Amateur League in 2017 to distinguish the now two separate entities but both wanting to retain the IFBB abbreviation. ==Organization==