by Christian Duque
Pro bodybuilder John Jewett shocked the world this past weekend when he took the big win at the 2024 Vancouver Pro establishing his first professional victory in the open bodybuilding category and securing a spot on the prestigious 2024 Mr Olympia roster. The former 212 bodybuilder showed up with tremendous condition and razor-sharp definition to one of the most prestigious professional bodybuilding contests in Canada, the second largest country in the world. Canadian fans from all over were ecstatic at his big win, but it was more than that.
This wasn’t just any other bodybuilding show. This was a bodybuilding competition that was stacked with top talent, but interestingly none of them had won a pro show before. Tim Budesheim, the second place winner, did a fantastic job bringing tremendous size although lacked a little bit of the condition that John had brought. We’ll talk more about him momentarily. Many Canadian fans were there for Robin Strand who took third place in top form. It would have been a very fulfilling victory for the Canadian to have won the Vancouver Pro but he had nothing to sink his head about. He brought a very very complete physique and posed hard. Taking top three in a professional bodybuilding competition is a milestone achievement. In fourth place was Hossein Kalateh, another Canadian bodybuilder who also brought his A-game to the big show. It’s interesting that the top five consisted of two Canadians but unfortunately they were unable to secure the win. That does not mean that they didn’t bring their best to the big stage. And rounding out the top five was of course none other than Stuart Sutherland. Stuart also looked impressive and most definitely earned his spot amongst the best bodybuilders on that stage. Once again I must reiterate none of these guys had won a pro show before so I think it was a crowning achievement for John to have walked away with the W and the 2024 Olympia qualification.
So let’s talk about why it was John and not Tim. As we have often said in the sport of bodybuilding, height is not always a favored trait. Unfortunately John and Tim were both pretty much neck and neck when it came to musculature and density. but the problem is Tim towered over John and that height I think hurt him. Even though Tim looked bigger it was only because of stature not necessarily because of muscle mass. What also hurt Tim was his structure. Although I’m not the type of writer to really dig deep into actual shapes and tapers, there was something that was a little bit off about Tim when it came to his x-frame. John just has a prettier physique to look at and he is also more compact. Again Tim could have won the show with a different judging panel and maybe could have beaten John if he just tightened up just a tad bit more. At the same time, I cannot say Tim was off because I don’t feel comfortable with that assessment of his physique or his stage presence. From all of the videos that I have seen it seems that Tim really put his heart into the competition. This was not a weak show by any stretch of the imagination and he really took time to nail each of the mandatory poses which a lot of times even professional athletes sort of get a little sloppy with. I mean we have seen professional athletes come up with their own variations of the mandatory poses but that is not what happened in Vancouver.
Like I said, Tim posed hard, came in condition and really didn’t have any major flaws. But compared to John, I don’t think he had enough of the goods to take the victory at this particular competition. I would say the same thing about the other three guys in the top five. They each had their strong suits but overall they just didn’t have everything they needed in order to knock out John.
What was very interesting about this particular competition is that there wasn’t really a front-runner. I think it’s because none of these guys had won a show before, coupled with the fact that you had a lot of different looks there. You had guys like Tim that were tall and you had guys like John that were compact. Honestly I don’t think anybody could really handicap a show like this given the circumstances I just described. On the flipside, though, I think that that also makes for a very interesting show because the reality of the matter is that you just didn’t know who was going to win and you honestly didn’t know what the battles were going to look like on stage. So in a very real way the uncertainty of the placings was going to create for a very interesting bodybuilding show. And I don’t think that the judges were playing favorites either again because of the fact that nobody in this show really was the clear-cut favorite to win. So for these reasons I think Vancouver was a fun show to watch.
Now when it comes to John, here is a guy who has a tremendous social media following and is one of the most knowledgeable bodybuilders on the pro circuit. He understands the intricacies of training coupled with the nuances of nutrition and supplementation. He is somebody who enjoys talking about bodybuilding and inspiring young athletes just getting Into the sport for the first time. He made his name in the 212 and paid his dues rising to the top of that particular division. But like many 212 guys, I think he kind of saw a ceiling in the future and really wanted to see what he could do in the open category. John not only has competed extensively in the lighter division but also has worked with some of the biggest companies in the sport. He just recently opened a gym that is doing very well and I would say he’s got a lot on his plate. That said, I’m sure he wants to see what he can do at the open Olympia. Not every 212 competitor can do that and most don’t even bother trying. Those who have, have seen tremendous success from winning open shows like John has and like Shaun Clarita has, all the way to winning the open Olympia like Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford have. In a very real way the 212 physique with just a few more pounds of muscle mass can actually be very competitive with the open guys. They don’t need the height and they really don’t need to really push the mass card either. As I said earlier in the article, height is really not beneficial in physique-based sports. It may be to a certain extent with men’s physique and/or classic men’s physique, but it is almost a detriment in bodybuilding. I mean look at what happened to poor Tim.
In closing, I think it’ll be very interesting to see where John places at the open Olympia. I could see him cracking the top 10 given the right circumstances and I could see him really bringing a very impressive physique. I don’t know that he will get much higher than 9th or 10th but then again you just never know. It is all based on what the judges are looking for. But I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here because this article is not about how John will do at the Olympia, rather, it’s about John winning his first open pro show. Plus I think that the way that he won is very special because he didn’t edge anyone out. I would say this was 100% a solid win. He was able to hold Tim off and he was able to dominate the other guys in the top five so that nobody can argue that this was a fishy win by any stretch of the imagination. This was John allday everyday in Vancouver for the big win. And John Jewett is going to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete at the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding in just a few months!!
As always I hope you enjoyed reading my article here at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Where do you think John will place? Do you think he can place higher than 9th or 10th and if so why? Stay tuned because I have a feeling John Jewett is going to make some noise in Las Vegas, Nevada!
 
