CROSSFIT GAMES UPDATE: THE DEVIN FORD ISSUE
There has been a very compelling story swelling over the last few weeks post open, regarding Devin Ford. Ford is a hell of a Crossfitter who happens to be holding the final invite to the CrossFit Games based on open finish. His spot, however, stands under a massive microscope of controversy and has been causing quite the uproar.
Devin submitted a video for review to HQ that came back with a major penalty due to lack of reps on workout 3 of the open. According to HQ, Ford only completed 40 of the 50 reps of his handstand push-ups, and rumors swirl about a plethora of other questionable reps. After assessing his video, CrossFit followed their own rule book and smacked Ford with a Major penalty, adding 1:10 to his time. While this penalty negatively affected Ford's score, it did not bump him out of the top 20 open finishers, thus giving him an invite to the games.
The big names of CrossFit positively trashed this dude in response. Personally, I feel terrible for the guy. A slew of big names including Patrick Vellner, Brent Fikowski, and Travis Williams all turned to social media to make negative and rather sharp comments abut Ford and how he was allegedly cheating his way to the Games. Amid the controversy and heat from the entire CrossFit community, Ford has already announced that if the bid is not somehow taken away from him, he will voluntarily decline his invite.
That's some major bullshit if you ask me.
Listen, I would like to first and foremost assume the best in people. But let's say he was intentionally cheating, don't you think he could have found a better way to cheat than to flat out skip 10 handstand push-ups? If you ever watch this guy exercise, he goes into beast mode for handstand pushups, 10 reps would hardly take him 10 more seconds, it isn't like he's super unfit or unable to get the work done.
What's even worse for me is that it isn't like he "got away" with anything either. There are a rulebook and a review process for a reason, and Ford is following that due diligence. He submitted his video, he was given a major penalty, and at the end of it all, mixed with his other 4 workouts, he was still deemed games-worthy. I am absolutely positive he has worked his ass off just like everyone else, and his dream of making the games has been dashed because people don't agree with the punishment he received for his mistake.
The CrossFit community, especially when it comes to competition, can really be overbearing when it comes to this sort of thing. Everyone's a critic, especially in the open, and has been for years. Whether it was Camille last year with a questionable strict press, or Bridges a few years back with deadlifts on the open, so many people love to jump all over these elite athletes and tear them down at the first possible chance. Uncool CrossFit world. Choose love, not war.
Check out his response to the controversy here:
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