Gustavo Badell aka "the Freakin' 'Rican", (born November 3, 1972) is an

International Federation of BodyBuilders The International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB), headquartered in Las Rozas (Madrid), is an international professional sports governing body for bodybuilding and fitness that oversees many of the sport's major international event ...

professional

bodybuilder 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 o ...

Background

Badell was born in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and moved to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

when he was around 22 years old. He began lifting weights at the age of fifteen to increase his size for

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. Gustavo gained muscle incredibly fast, and when he was 19 entered and won his first bodybuilding competition, the 1991 Junior

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Bodybuilding Championships. After six years of weight training he was able to turn professional by winning the 1997 Caribbean Championships. His first International Federation of BodyBuilders appearance was in 1998 when he competed in the Grand Prix of Germany. He first competed in the International Federation of BodyBuilders Night of Champions (now called the New York Pro) in 1999, where he finished in 14th place. His first Ironman Pro Invitational was in 2000, where he was 18th. 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 ...

appearance was in 2002, where he was 24th. 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 and ...

was in 2004, where he was 7th. His professional placings were lackluster until 2003 when he started placing higher, in part because of help from the fellow professional bodybuilder

Milos Sarcev Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus d ...

. Badell has appeared in many fitness and magazine articles as well as on the cover of

Flex Flex or FLEX may refer to: Computing * Flex (language), developed by Alan Kay * FLEX (operating system), a single-tasking operating system for the Motorola 6800 * FlexOS, an operating system developed by Digital Research * FLEX (protocol), a comm ...

magazine. He has appeared in numerous advertisements for

MuscleTech MuscleTech is a brand of dietary supplements, marketed by Iovate Health Sciences Inc., which includes Hydroxycut. It was owned by Canadian company Kerr Holdings which was acquired by the Xiwang Foodstuffs Company, a Chinese company, for $584 mil ...

, normally for Nitrotech Hardcore protein powder and Masstech weight-gain powder.

Profile

* Current residence: Puerto Rico * Family: ex-wife Jessica, children: Barbie Ann, Nicole Marie, Michael Gustavo and Christian Carlos Badell * Height: 5ft 7.7in (172 cm) * Competition weight: * Offseason weight:

Contest history

* 1991 Junior Caribbean Championships, overall winner * 1997

Championships, overall winner (received pro card) * 1997 World Amateur Championships Heavyweight, 10th * 1998 Grand Prix

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, 9th * 1999 Grand Prix

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, 17th * 1999 Night of Champions, Did Not Place * 1999 World Pro Championships, 14th * 2000 Ironman Pro Invitational, 18th * 2000 Night of Champions, Did Not Place * 2000

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Pro Invitational, Did Not Place *2000 World Pro Championships, 11th *2001 Grand Prix

, Did Not Place *2001 Ironman Pro Invitational, 16th *2001 San Francisco Pro Invitational, 11th *2002 Ironman Pro Invitational, 13th *2002 Night of Champions, 10th *

2002 Mr. Olympia The 2002 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held October 16–20, 2002 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Results The total prize money awarded was $381,000. A 2003 Cadillac Escalade was presente ...

, 24th *2002 Southwest Pro Cup, 6th *2002

Pro Invitational, 3rd *2004

, 7th *2004 Ironman Pro Invitational, 3rd *2004 San Francisco Pro Invitational, 4th *2004 Show of Strength Pro Championship, 3rd * 2004 Mr. Olympia, 3rd *2005

, 3rd *2005 Ironman Pro Invitational, 1st * 2005 Mr. Olympia, 3rd *2006

, 4th *2006 San Francisco Pro Invitational, 1st * 2006 Mr. Olympia, 6th *2007

, 4th * 2007 Mr. Olympia 8th *2008 Ironman Pro Invitational, 2nd *2008

, 6th * 2008 Mr. Olympia, 10th *2009 Atlantic City Pro, 1st * 2009 Mr. Olympia, 13th *2012

, 13th

References

Perine, Shawn
"Mucho Gustavo Badell, that is. There's a lot to like about this 240-pounder. Here's how he built his 21½-inch arms"
''Muscle & Fitness'', August 2004. Weider Publication. Accessed 6 June 2006.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badell, Gustavo 1972 births Living people Professional bodybuilders Venezuelan bodybuilders

Background

Profile

Contest history

See also

References

External links