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. mr. ben weider of canada served as the first ifbb president. in 1967 the ifbb mr. olympia was held, which was 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.