CrossFit Games

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games Champion, during the Thick 'n Quick event of the 2014 CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games is an athletic competition sponsored by Crossfit Inc.^[1] and Reebok.^[2] The competition has been held every summer since 2007. Athletes at the Games compete in workouts that they learn about hours or days beforehand, consisting mostly of an assortment of standard aerobic, weightlifting, and gymnastics movements, as well as some additional surprise elements that are not part of the typical CrossFit regimen such as obstacle courses, ocean swimming, softball throwing, or ascending a pegboard.^[3][4] The Games are styled as a venue for determining the "Fittest on Earth," where competitors should be "ready for anything."

History

Venues

In 2007, the first annual CrossFit Games were contested in Aromas, California, on a small ranch owned by the family of Games director Dave Castro.^[5] Interest and participation in the event grew in the following years, and in 2010, the Games moved to a new venue: the StubHub Center (known at that time as the Home Depot Center) in Carson, California.^[6] Following seven years at that site, the Games moved to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, where the first Games outside California will take place in summer 2017.^[7]

Stages

The CrossFit Games season comprises three stages of competition: the Open, Regionals, and the Games themselves.

The Open

The Open, introduced in 2011 and so called because participation is open to anyone,^[8] is held over five weeks in February-March; a new workout is released on each Thursday night (Pacific Time) and competitors complete the workout and submit their scores online by Monday evening, with either a video or validation by a CrossFit affiliate. Since 2013, Open workout announcements have been broadcast live, and featured two or more past CrossFit Games athletes competing head-to-head immediately following the workout description.

Regionals

Each Open competitor is categorized into one of 17 regions according to primary training location; North America is divided into 12 regions, with the remaining regions roughly corresponding the five other populated continents. After all five Open workouts, the overall performance of competitors within each region is ranked, and the top few athletes (currently 10, 20, or 30 depending on the region) advance to the next stage: Regionals.^[9] In 2015, the format changed from 17 regional events (one for each region) to eight. Each "super-regional" event includes qualifiers from two or three regions, totaling 40 or 50 athletes. Regional events last three days and are held two or three per week over three consecutive weekends in late (boreal) spring; the workouts are the same for all regional events.

Games

The top five athletes from each regional event advance to the CrossFit Games, which are held over three days in July or August. The men's and women's events each consist of 40 competitors vying for 3 podium positions and approximately $750,000 in total prize money (the overall prize purse of $2.2 million, as of 2016, includes payouts to other divisions).

Divisions

Individual

The marquee events at the CrossFit Games are the men's and women's individual competitions. The first place prize for each currently stands at $285,000.

Team

Teams consist of three men and three women, who must all primarily train at the same facility. Teams are subject to a similar qualification process as the individuals.

Masters and Teens

The Games include age-based divisions for younger and older competitors. Masters divisions were introduced at the 2010 Games. There are currently six divisions each for women and men: 35–39, 40–44, 45–49, 50–54, 55–59, and 60+. Divisions for teenagers were introduced in 2015: the age ranges are 14–15 and 16–17, for both boys and girls. Rather than regional events, masters and teen athletes qualify for the games by a second online competition following the Open. The top 200 athletes in each division worldwide are invited to compete in this qualifier, of which the top 20 advance to the Games.^[10] Prior to the introduction of these secondary online qualifiers, masters and teens competitors qualified for the Games directly from the Open.

Controversies

Due to CrossFit's official partnership with Reebok, competitors at the 2015 Games were banned from wearing Nike footwear.^[11] Nike arranged for several trucks to be parked near the main entrance to the arena, which served as mobile billboards with the slogan "Don't ban our shoe, beat our shoe".^[12] The partnership also prohibits Nike from labeling its Metcon shoes as intended for CrossFit - the brand uses the term "high intensity training" instead.^[11]

CrossFit's decision to award winners of the 2016 Games with handguns resulted in widespread criticism from members and sponsors.^[13] Resulting protests forced the temporary closure of two CrossFit locations in New York City.^[14]

Popularity

Participation and sponsorship have grown rapidly since the inception of the Games. The prize money awarded to each first-place male and female increased from $500 at the inaugural Games to $275,000 in 2013-2016. The largest jump in prize money came from the first Games sponsored by Reebok in 2011 when first place went from $25,000 in 2010 to $250,000 in 2011.^[15] The total prize payout in 2016 was $2,200,000.^[16]

In 2011, 26,000 athletes signed up to compete in the "Open". In 2012–2017, participation was 69,000, 138,000, 209,000, 273,000, 324,307, and 380,000 respectively.^{[17][18][19][20][21]} In 2016, 175 countries were represented by registered participants.

Champions by year and category

Individual and Team Champions^[22]

Masters Men's Champions^[22]

Masters Women's Champions^[22]

Teens Champions^[22]

References

External links

• Official website
• Leaderboard of previous competitions