The 2010 CrossFit Games

1. Merle Mckenzie wrote...

So excited I can't even begin to explain it all! March 15th....let the road to the Games begin!

25 February 2011 / 11:33 a.m.

2. Steven Platek wrote...

This is really exciting. I love your quote Tony: "leaving it up to the integrity of the affiliate!"

This could be the largest social psychology experiment on the planet! I trust in the community's honest, but this WILL be the biggest test ever!

25 February 2011 / 11:35 a.m.

3. Justin Key wrote...

I can't wait.... I simply can't.... I believe that this will be an interesting way to pick the top 60 for each region... Then... when they get there we will see if anyone was full of it during the "Open"
I know that CrossFit Coweta will be "Opting-in" for as many WODS as we can support :-)
See you all in Cali (although probably as a spectator)
KEY

25 February 2011 / 12:02 p.m.

4. wondering wrote...

Am I the only one wondering why the info & news for the Games trickles out? Why couldn't this have come out a month ago? >>>> "The affiliate will be required to provide a judge for each athlete that performs an Open workout.
It is up to the affiliate to select its judges. They may, but do not have to be, Level 1 trainers."

25 February 2011 / 12:02 p.m.

5. Nick wrote...

This might be an odd situation to consider, however I'm curious as to how HQ plans to avoid this.

In the case of an individual athlete filming and sending in, someone from HQ will validate their performance based on HQ standards. This means that should an athlete choose to shorten range of motion or something like that, they will definitely incur a penalty.

If, on the other hand, an individual goes to one of the opt in events, the requirement is not the same. There is a level of trust now placed on the judges at the event, as there is no in-house validation done by HQ. What is to say that an affiliate couldn't opt in and end up with a "competition" between only those of their members that are aiming to compete. In this case, with maybe only a couple of athletes performing and being judged by their trainers/friends from their affiliate, the situation is almost exactly the same as if someone submitted individually, but there is no requirement that they adhere to video submission standards.

Seems outlandish, but given the kind of noteriety that both the athlete and the affiliate gain from having a competitor at the games, it wouldn't be completely irrational for someone to set this up.

It seems kind of weird to me that someone could just pop into their box, do the WOD like any other day, have it "judged" by their trainer and then send a paper with rep numbers in to HQ as validation of their performance. Is this a possibility?

25 February 2011 / 12:38 p.m.

6. zack wrote...

Cheaters suck. It would be worth it to me to lose a spot at the regional in order to see people get busted. If I get bumped out by a cheater, then I have a long way to go before I can earn a spot at the games anyway. This is gona be great.

25 February 2011 / 12:51 p.m.

7. Craig Massey wrote...

I liked what Coach said about affiliates who pass through below standard athletes will be publicly embarrassed when those athletes crash and burn at the Regionals. For that to happen though, the information about where the athlete qualified will need to be available publicly. Will it?
Is the name of the affiliate who "passed" an athlete available for public examination?

I'm eagerly waiting for the new site to go public. It sounds like some very cool work has been done on it.

25 February 2011 / 12:57 p.m.

8. Jonny P. wrote...

I definitely agree, I think that the location that an individual qualified at should be public knowledge. Why keep potential cheaters under the rug?

25 February 2011 / 1:39 p.m.

9. Andy wrote...

Definitely an interesting point re: cheating... My only worry would be passing someone through our affiliate, only to have them bonk at Regionals due to some other reason, like illness, bad week leading up to, etc.

My guess is that this will happen to a few, but not enough to draw a strong correlation with a single affiliate. However, if one affiliate yields 5-10 athletes out of the top 60 and most/all of them crash and burn, then you'd have a potentially interesting situation.

At any rate, any of us L1 judges or otherwise better make sure we do our job well!

Maybe this has been answered - I understand the movement standards from the handbook and HQ - but will there be judging guides for each WOD? (to further clarify what the expectations are?)

25 February 2011 / 3:27 p.m.

10. Jeff wrote...

You guys are way overthinking this about the whole cheating thing. To my mind it boils down very simply.

If you are an affiliate and you validate performances at your gym by opting-in, you have "skin in the game". That is, if one or more athletes come to regionals that somehow seem inferior, and you validated their Open performance, you can expect some scrutiny. I would not expect it to be crystal clear generally. However, if it IS clear that the athlete cheated and your gym contributed to that by validating the performance, the penalty HAS been made clear: lose your affiliate.

Now what kind of business owner/coach would risk losing their entire business just so they could get some of their friends into the Regionals only to have them smoked by the competition? You say such an unscrupolous type could gym exists? Fine, but I doubt there are any true contenders for Games champs in that bunch and they won't make it past Regionals anyway.

As for judging movement standards, this, I assume, will also be easy to solve. Just design workouts where range of motion or other standards are VERY easy to see, whether by a non-L1 judge or a crappy low-res video. For example, if push ups are called for and "chest must touch deck" then that is easily changed to "hands must come off deck at bottom". No way to short the bottom range without it being clear your hands lifted. Just use a similar design for all work. For example, if pistols were called for, could specify that both hands must touch the ground at the bottom of the pistol. Yeah, it kinda makes pistols different in that its not a total balance move at the bottom, but I can guarantee that Spealler will still do such a "pistol with a touch" faster than me.

And @Nick the penalty for lack of range or incomplete reps was quoted somewhere (and I assume will be repeated when the offical rules website goes live): a lack of rep means the whole WOD submission doesn't count. You get a zero. So, if it says do 50 pushups, you better do 50, not 49, not 49 and a half. 50 means 50.

25 February 2011 / 4:16 p.m.

11. Liz wrote...

Does anyone know if there is any compensation to the affiliates for being a validation site? Does the athlete pay a fee ?

25 February 2011 / 4:21 p.m.

12. Rebecca wrote...

I think the problem is going to be affiliates will post the workouts as the WOD and there is no way for one person or even 2 to watch and judge a room full of people. The standard should be one judge per person. 2 affiliates could work together to judge each other so there would be enough people.

Having volunteered at the games last year, the judging in the games was totally inconsistent. Some judges just had it out, ie..not calling a thruster that paused at the shoulders a thruster and not counting it...while other judges had no issue with it, it really wasn't fair so I would assume the standards will be even more different from each affiliate.

25 February 2011 / 6:44 p.m.

13. Adam Kryskow wrote...

HQ needs to come out with a judging manual for every exercise included. Just hit target points for each exercise. For example can we bend our arms on the downswing of a kettlebell swing or not?

25 February 2011 / 7:45 p.m.

14. Adam Kryskow wrote...

#13 Rebecca - From what I read it will be one judge per person.

25 February 2011 / 7:55 p.m.

15. Curious wrote...

If an affiliate opts in for the workout that week, does their have to be a designated day that the workout/event has to be held for the week? Or can someone come in to do the workout Tuesday, another person on Thursday, a whole group on Saturday, etc., as long as everyone is being judged individually? Thank you!

25 February 2011 / 9:34 p.m.

16. Guillaume Perron wrote...

Just saw Lipson/Camille video and I have a quick question...Lipson time of 2:36 on 02-26-11 WOD, is that GOOD judging???

26 February 2011 / 2:28 p.m.

17. joe m wrote...

@Guillaume- No bro, that would not be considered good judging. I'm not mad at HQ for this qualification process but i thought the affiliates were just going to be a spot that folks without all the equipment could get videotaped. There is no way that this process isnt going to without bad intentions, screw a decent number of people out of a regional spot. Real bummer there isnt another way. Because yeah, that Lipson workout was a great showing of strength but the ROM was 2 inches of depth away from legit at a lot of gyms but would fly at a lot of gyms as well. Camilles too. They are obviously amazing and were just doing a wod not in comp but the point remains that those are the discrepancies that will cause problems.

26 February 2011 / 3:04 p.m.

18. joe m wrote...

also...... all this " it will be embarrassing for the affiliates if there people clearly cheated the open" stuff is ridiculous. This isnt about teaching anybody a lesson. Its about finding the fittest people on earth so i would rather the best people get a chance then " teach someone a lesson". that said, this games is gonna be epic!!!

26 February 2011 / 3:10 p.m.

19. Megan wrote...

#11 Liz:

HQ has left scheduling/fees/etc. at the discretion of the affiliate owner. If Affiliate X wants to charge $15 per validated workout, they can do that. Affiliate Y may make validations free. It's really up to each affiliate how they want to run it, and what amount of compensation they would like for validating workouts.

27 February 2011 / 8:58 a.m.

20. Ted wrote...

I am less concerned about poor judging or hyped results than many seem to be. After some though, I reached the conclusion that my credibility is more important than my results. Given the maqnner in which missteps and outright fakery is archived on the internet, the loss of credibility will carry into every aspect of my future.

As an athlete, even if I am qualifying in my home box, I would want to be judged as hard and fairly as possible. If I let someone judge me laxly, I would only be embarrased at the next level. I think that each competitor has enough pride in themsellves to want an honest judgment on how they perform and not to be personally embarassed by being caught as a fraud.

27 February 2011 / 6:56 p.m.

21. David S. wrote...

While this might not be possible at all affiliates hosting these Opens, why not go the extra step and film the athlete completing the Open WOD at your box. Make it more than your word, back it up with a video of each performance for anyone to see.

Also, remember: If an athlete is caught cheating he will be banned from all future CrossFit sanctioned competitions, and any affiliate caught cheating may have their affiliation revoked. If your reputation and peace of mind are not enough of a reason to not cheat, how about losing your business?

28 February 2011 / 10:36 a.m.

22. mike wrote...

obviously there will be a wife range of times

28 February 2011 / 6:22 p.m.

23. Bill Russell wrote...

I posted the following as a comment to another article and include it here as food for thought for other affiliates. It goes along with what David S. posted yesterday.

---------------------

We plan on holding Open competitions for our members as well as non-members. Judges will be assigned as follows.

For people taking part for the fun of the competition and who want to see how they stack up against the world of Crossfitters, we will assign an experienced CFer who completely understands the movement standards.

For a person who feels he or she has a decent chance of qualifying for the Regionals, we will assign a Level 1 certified trainer to judge, AND video the entire workout in order to verify the performance if there is any question in the future.

For a person who is a serious contender, I will personally judge the performance and video the entire workout. Before submitting the time to the Games site, I will have a Level 1 certified trainer, preferably from another affiliate, watch the video and review my judging.

If one of our athletes make it to Regionals, there will be no question if he or she belongs there.

Let the Games begin!

01 March 2011 / 4:40 a.m.

24. tim wrote...

Quick question guys!

How do i find out what the WOD's were for the 2010 open??

14 March 2011 / 4:41 p.m.

25. tinacotts wrote...

hi just registered ,, tina

17 December 2011 / 6:20 p.m.