Yesterday, CrossFit began imposing penalties on athletes following the video review of Workout 1 of the CrossFit 2024 Quarterfinals. As of mid-morning Thursday, 265 penalties had been issued and that number had increased to 348 this morning . Of these sanctions, some were given to athletes whose judge was part of the Association of Fitness Judges (AFJ).
The AFJ was formed late last year with the “purpose of [promote] the professional development and advancement of officials in functional fitness sport (judges), to include the safety of judges and athletes, fairness and consistency in competition standards, and developing a greater degree of transparency between athletes, coaches, event organizers and Judges, including all individuals and organizations involved in functional fitness sport.”
AFJ judges were invited to various training camps including HWPO Training, Mayhem and JST Training in Europe. However, notable athletes from these camps such as Brooke Wells (HWPO), Paige Powers (Mayhem) and Ella Wilkinson (JST) received major penalties in Practice 1 following video review.
Last night, the AFJ issued a statement regarding the penalties incurred by athletes who were judged by an AFJ member.
Via the Instagram account @associationoffitnessjudges:
A lot has happened in the competitive CrossFit space over the past 24 hours.
The AFJ began to professionalize and legitimize the sport we all love. We are a group of referees from around the world with years of experience refereeing at the highest levels of the sport: semi-finals, regionals, penalties, games, rogues, etc.
These quarter-finals, the AFJ was called upon to assist various training camps and individual athletes with their training. We had their trust, their faith and their trust. The CrossFit video review team was looking for very demanding standards that we failed to produce every time. Since the first wave of penalties came out, we have been in communication with the various athletes and training camps that have been affected to advise and consult on how to move forward.
Specific movement standards in live face-to-face events are easier to address when the judging team sees that something subtle is being overlooked (i.e. downwards, soft knee on the non-working leg, etc. .) and is corrected immediately so the athlete can make the adjustment and continue. work Online competition makes these kinds of nuances very difficult to always catch at live speeds for these elite athletes, and as we’ve seen, they can be missed by even the most experienced judging panel, as well as their coaches and multiple experienced spectators. the sport However, behind a computer speed with the ability to slow things down and check multiple times, it’s easy to take and capture all of these standards to the letter and then penalize an athlete for an error consisting of a of these nuances.
We have the utmost faith and confidence in the judges who were selected and represented at the AFJ last week. We have no doubt that without the presence of these professional caliber judges many more penalties would have been incurred. That said, we still feel responsible for the penalties that have been handed down so far, as we are proud to help elevate this aspect of the sport and ultimately facilitate the virtual stage of competition for athletes. Judging, by its very name, is a very subjective role and mistakes will happen at every level.
As a sport, we need to do better in all aspects to move towards professionalism.
We intend to be part of this change. Thank you to those who have continued to support what AFJ does and stands for. We are waiting for you on the competition track!
The video review process is ongoing with individual qualifying due to be completed by Monday 29th April and age group qualifying ending on Wednesday 1st May.
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