The PFAA (Professional Fitness Athlete Association) has publicly asked for Dave Castro to be removed from his position two weeks after the tragic passing of athlete Lazar Dukic during event 1 of the CrossFit Games. This is how some of the most recognizable faces of CrossFit have reacted to.
You probably fall under one category when it comes to Dave Castro: you either love him or hate him. It is difficult to be in the middle with the guy. However, he was there when the first CrossFit Games became a reality, it happened in his backyard to be more precise, and ever since Dave Castro is linked with the CrossFit community and the Games.
That is why he is so influential in the Game. He is the OG of OGs. So, publicly, we at BOXROX found difficult to find high-level personalities (media or athletes) that would criticize Dave Castro. In fact, most comments we’ve seen so far has been made in painting a more positive view of Dave Castro.
However, we know who is in favour of Dave Castro stepping down – the athletes from the PFAA who signed the document: Anníe Thorisdottir, Brent Fikowski, Dina Swift, Fee Saghafi, Leeverne Engelbrecht, Patrick Vellner, Royce Dunne, Victoria Campos. However, the vast majority of Games athlete have decided to stay quiet, at least until now, many hours after the official statement from PFAA.
So let’s see how prominent figures of CrossFit have reacted to PFAA publicly demanding that Dave Castro should be fired. We will be updating this page as more and more people talk about it openly.
Table of Contents
How the CrossFit Community is Reacting to Calls for Dave Castro to Be Fired
Kara Saunders
Kara Saunders is a 10x individual Games athlete. This year she won the CrossFit Games for the first time in her career, as part of team Raw Iron CrossFit Mayhem Thunder.
Here is what she posted on her stories:
- An investigation is still underway and will likely take weeks. Until then we don’t know everything so an educated opinion is hard to have.
- Medical emergencies are a common part of competitive sport. Negligence should not be. This was not a simple case of someone having an unfortunate medical emergency. As he fought for his life crying out for help no one attended. People watched him die on a livestream but somehow no one was there to save him. We wait to find out if protocols were in fact in place or not, or if they just weren’t followed.
- If you haven’t lived in this sport and either worked for the CrossFit Games or competed as an athlete, you probably know very little about how it plays out and what goes on behind closed doors. Much like you’ll never know what someone’s relationship is like if you’re not in it.
- This is not a time to take sides and push your own agenda. This is about justice and change. If someone did the wrong thing then they will be held accountable. That’s how the world works if it didn’t no ne would be safe and humans wouldn’t progress.
- Someone can care about something more than anything and still do the wrong thing or oversee important details. In any business if someone doesn’t do their job they will be reprimanded or removed.
- There are people who just lost a loved one who deserve compassion and respect. Gaslighting is unacceptable.
- Instagram wars are the tackiest and weakest way of handling a situation. Social media can be used to spread a message and get people thinking. It should still always come back to doing the right thing. Before anything, be a good human.
Rich Froning Jr.
Rich Froning is the athlete with the most CrossFit Games titles under his belt. He won it 10 times (4 times as an individual athlete and 6 times as a team).
Andrew Hiller
Andrew Hiller became famous almost overnight in the community as the YouTuber who would call out CrossFit for doing the wrong things – typically showcasing how some athletes would do no reps and still get away with it.
“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t,” he wrote.
Sevan Matossian
Sevan Matossian was head of media for CrossFit Inc. for years before the entire team was dismantled in the late 2010s.
WOD Memes for Jacked Up Teens
This last one is just to make you laugh a little bit about how the comments are flowing around online. If you check Instagram, everyone loves Dave Castro, but if you check Reddit, everyone hates him.
“Now you guys can argue in the comments section….
I’m not saying they’re right or wrong.
I’m not even sure all the athletes agree with them.
I can understand the argument for both sides.”
Read Also: How Much Money Did Each Athlete Earn at the 2024 CrossFit Games
