Dennis Tyron James (born May 31, 1966) is a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

retired IFBB Pro bodybuilder.

Early life

James was born in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

on May 31, 1966, the son of an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

soldier of the

United States army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

stationed in Heidelberg and a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

woman. He started training in

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

when he was 18 years old.

Stats (2012)

*Height: 172 cm *Legs: 89 cm

Career

James won the International South German Championship in 1985, the International German Grand Prix in 1986, and the 1986 New York State Championship All Junior Category. He stopped training because he was not eligible to join the German Nationals since he did not hold

German citizenship German nationality law details the conditions by which an individual holds German nationality. The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Act, which came into force on 1 January 1914. Germany is a member state of the Europ ...

but made a comeback in 1990 after he left Germany.Dennis T. James - Pattaya’s own Mr. Universe
/ref> The first

National Physique Committee The National Physique Committee (NPC) is the largest amateur bodybuilding organization in the United States. Amateur bodybuilders compete in competitions from local to national competitions sanctioned by the NPC. While the term "bodybuilding" is ...

(NPC) competition of James was the NPC Junior USA of 1996, where he placed 13th. In 1999, he competed in his first Night of Champions, where he tied 14th. The following year, in 2000, he competed in his first

Arnold Classic The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (''Arnold Classic''), strongman ('' Arnold Strongman Classic''), fitness, figure ...

, placing 4th. His first

Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...

was in 2000 as well, where he placed 11th. He has competed in a total of seven Mr. Olympias, with his highest placing coming in 4th in 2003. In 2010, James said that the

2010 Mr. Olympia The 2010 Mr. Olympia was an International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilding competition and the feature event of Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend 2010 which was held September 23–26, 2010 at the Las Ve ...

would be his last competition. He also said that he had lied about his age in the past and that he will be "45 years old soon". He announced the end of his competitive career in 2012. He has continued to train and mentor other bodybuilders.

Competition appearances

*1993 NABBA Mr. Universe, Medium-Tall, 4th *1994 NABBA Mr. Universe, Medium-Tall, 2nd *1995 NABBA Mr. Universe, Medium-Tall, 1st *1996 NPC Junior USA, Light-HeavyWeight, 13th *1996 NABBA Universe - Pro, 2nd *1997 NPC Junior Nationals, Light-HeavyWeight, 6th *1997 NPC Nationals, HeavyWeight, 4th *1998 NPC USA Championships, Super-HeavyWeight, 1st and Overall *1999 Night of Champions, 15th *2000

, 4th *2000 Grand Prix England, 3rd *2000 Grand Prix Hungary, 3rd *2000 Ironman Pro Invitational, 7th *

2000 Mr. Olympia The 2000 Mr. Olympia contest was an International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held October 20–22, 2000 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada. Results The total prize money aw ...

, 11th *2000 World Pro Championships, 4th *2001 Arnold Classic, 3rd *2001 Grand Prix Australia, 2nd *2001 Grand Prix England, 3rd *2001 Grand Prix Hungary, 1st *

2001 Mr. Olympia The 2001 Mr. Olympia contest was an International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held October 26–28, 2001 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada. Results The total prize money a ...

, 7th *2002 Arnold Classic, 7th *2002 Grand Prix England, 2nd *2002 Grand Prix Holland, 4th *

2002 Mr. Olympia The 2002 Mr. Olympia contest was an International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held October 16–20, 2002 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada. Results The total prize money a ...

, 10th *2002 Show of Strength Pro Championship, 5th *

2003 Mr. Olympia The 2003 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held October 22–26, 2003 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Results For the fifth year in a row, the total prize money for the Mr. Olympia weekend was ...

, 4th *2003 Show of Strength Pro Championship, 4th *

2004 Mr. Olympia The 2004 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition and the feature event of Joe Weider's 2004 Olympia Weekend held October 30–31, 2004 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Results This Mr. Olympia contes ...

, 8th *2005 Charlotte Pro Championships, 2nd *

2005 Mr. Olympia The 2005 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition and the feature event of Joe Weider's 2005 Olympia Weekend held October 15–16, 2005 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Results The total prize amount given ...

, 6th *2006 New York Pro Championships, 3rd *

2006 Mr. Olympia The 2006 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition and the feature event of Joe Weider's 2006 Olympia Weekend held September 29–30, 2006 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Results The total prize money for ...

, 9th *2006 Grand Prix Austria, 4th *2007 New York Pro, 2nd *2007 Colorado Pro Championships, 8th *2008 IFBB Tampa Bay Pro, 2nd *2008 IFBB Europa Super Show, 2nd *2009 IFBB Arnold Classic, 7th *2009 IFBB New York Pro Show, 2nd *2009 IFBB Tampa Pro, 1st *2009 Europa Super Show, 1st *

11th *2012 Masters Mr. Olympia 3rd

References

External links

* * 1969 births Living people African-American bodybuilders Professional bodybuilders Sportspeople from Heidelberg Emigrants from West Germany to the United States 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Germany-sport-bio-stub