Dexter Jackson

Dexter Jackson is an American professional bodybuilder who won Mr. Olympia in 2008. He is nicknamed “Blade”.

early years

Dexter Jackson was born on November 25, 1969 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Already in childhood, the boy devoted a lot of time to playing sports, and to its various types. Dexter was especially good at running – he ran 40 meters in an incredible 4,2 seconds.

After leaving school, Jackson planned to go to university, but his plans did not come true. At that moment, his girlfriend was pregnant, for which, in fact, her parents were kicked out of the house. Being a real man, Dexter did not leave her in such a situation and in order to somehow provide for her and himself, he got a job as a cook in a restaurant. The guy managed to combine work with bodybuilding.

Participation in tournaments

Jackson won his first competition victory when he was 20 years old. In 1992, he first took part in a tournament sponsored by the National Physique Committee, the largest bodybuilding organization in the United States. That tournament was the Southern States Championship and Dexter finished 3rd. Four years later, he won the North American Championship. The guy realized that it was time to try himself on a serious level. And in 4, as a professional, Jackson took part in the prestigious Arnold Classic competition (1999th place), followed by the Night of Champions (7rd place) and the most prestigious tournament, Mr. Olympia (3 th place).

Mr. Olympia and success in other tournaments

Since 1999, Jackson has regularly participated in Mr. Olympia. The results, by and large, were different each time, but the young man was consistently among the top ten athletes: in 1999 he became 9th, the same result was the next year. Gradually, starting in 2001, it became more and more successful: in the indicated year it was 8th, in 2002 – 4th, in 2003 – 3rd, in 2004 – 4th. In 2005, he did not take part in Olympia, and this was planned as Dexter decided to thoroughly prepare for the next competition. However, participation in 2006 again brought him 4th place. In 2007, he again managed to climb the podium – he took 3rd place. As you can see, over the years Jackson stubbornly pursued his goal – to become “Mr. Olympia”, but each time he stopped a few steps away from the cherished goal. And many critics added fuel to the fire, unanimously declaring that he would hardly ever be able to take a higher place.

The time for significant changes came in 2008. It was a year of real success. Dexter finally won the Mr. Olympia, taking back the title from Jay Cutler, who has already become champion twice. Thus, Jackson became the 12th athlete to win the most prestigious title, and the 3rd to take the title just once. In addition, he became the 2nd in history to win both Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic in the same year.

It is noteworthy that the athlete did not stop there and then continued his performance. In 2009-2013. he still competed in Mr. Olympia, taking 3rd, 4th, 6th, 4th and 5th places respectively. In addition, there were also successful participation in other competitions.

In 2013, Jackson took first place at the Arnold Classic tournament. And this was the 4th time that this competition was submitted to him. But at that time he was already 43 years old.

Thus, the American bodybuilder took part in “Mr. Olympia” 15 times over 14 years, where he showed very impressive results each time.

Curious facts:

• Dexter has appeared on the covers and pages of many bodybuilding magazines, including Muscular Development и Flex;
• Jackson directed a documentary DVD entitled Dexter Jackson: Unbreakable, which was released in 2009;
• As a child, Dexter was engaged in gymnastics, break dance, and also had a black belt of 4 degrees.