Whether you’re an avid CrossFit athlete, fan, or partake in another strength sport, then chances are you’ve seen some of the news that’s dropped this week about the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games. The first major news dropped Monday, July 16th when 11 CrossFit Regionals athlete were announced to have failed the CrossFit Games’ drug breach policy.
On this list, five athletes were Games bound, and it included some major names like 4-time Games athlete Emily Abbott. Since the original publication of this list, three more athletes have been added, and Abbott has posted a comment on her Instagram page in response to CrossFit’s decision over her four year ban. All of this left some fans slightly confused about the appeals process and what actually went down behind the scenes at Regionals and in lead up to the public knowledge of this list, especially in Abbott’s case.
In CrossFit’s latest Studio Update below, Sean Woodland sits down with General Manager of the CrossFit Games Justin Bergh to gain an understanding of the testing that went on at the 2018 CrossFit Regionals. I strongly suggest watching the video all the way through.
If you’re interested in Abbott’s case specifically, then skip to about 3:20. When Woodland asked Bergh about the crutch in Abbott’s defense and Bergh states, “Emily said that she was accidentally contaminated based on a one-time occurrence that happened on Saturday before the Championship Sunday at the West Regional.”
Bergh then continues to explain that his team, the team at Drug Free Sport, and independent research parties considered what was stated in Abbott’s appeal and assessed how ibutamoron is often used by athletes (usage, duration, dosage, benefits, and so forth). He concludes by saying that in short, based off of their research, they couldn’t accept [with a clear conscious] that this was only a one time occurrence.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkDKPTvAvh1/
After this explanation, Woodland plays devil’s advocate and asks about the possibility of Abbott’s story completely checking out, and Bergh states, “It is the athlete’s responsibility to make sure that their samples do not have a banned substance in them and that means they have to be very judicious about what they put in their body.”
Bergh’s closing message is that even in cases where contamination or accidental consumption are true, there will still be no reduction in an athlete’s sanction. He points out that doing so could then set a precedent, which would take away from the strictness of CrossFit’s current drug policies.
Feature image from @abbot.the.redd Instagram page.
