Developing Story: More Athletes Boycott The Games, Demand Ownership Change
A growing coalition of CrossFit Games athletes and some of the biggest names in the sport have spoken up and have made their stance clear: They’re out of the Games, until more change is made.
Katrin Davidsdottir, Brooke Wells, and Amanda Barnhart led a barrage of athletes posting to their Instagram accounts that they would not participate in the 2020 CrossFit Games after the circulation of the former CrossFit employee Andy Stumpf’s podcast where he lays out a disturbing history of behavior from Greg Glassman against women employees.
- Cole Sager and Dani Speegle followed suit shortly thereafter on Instagram, stating their refusal to compete under similar demands given the recent news.
- Wells: “Us athletes are NOT sitting idle. We are working hard together to take the correct action to make CHANGE.”
The implications are huge: If more athletes decide to boycott, not only does this seriously put the 2020 CrossFit Games in trouble when accounting for potential restrictions from the pandemic but on a personal level it is significant that some of the biggest names in the community are willing to forego what is essentially their livelihood as an athlete — CrossFit competition at the highest level — to manifest their disapproval with what has come to light.
- In total, 10 athletes have publicly chosen to boycott — starting with Chandler Smith and Noah Ohlsen — representing 16.7% of the Games field at the moment.
- The vast majority of athletes have yet to fully make a firm decision and have stated that their future will depend on change. Many are likely waiting to process the influx of information and decide what their path forward will be in the coming days or week.
- Griffin Roelle, four days ago, was the one athlete to step out and say that he is still committed to competing at the Games while clarifying that he does not “stand for or with Greg and his comments,” and stating that he would do it out of love, in hopes of providing a useful impact through the platform of competition.