CrossFit Finalizes Theofanidis Doping Sanctions

CrossFit finalizes Lefteris Theofanidis drug sanctions, announces Alanna Fisk is in the appeals process, Dave Castro talks tough decisions for the 2020 CrossFit Games, and the CEO of a CrossFit-adjacent gear company is under fire for racial remarks.

Good morning and welcome to the WODDITY podcast for news about CrossFit. We are a daily podcast, Monday through Friday, doing CrossFit news in five minutes or less.

My name is Ben Garves and today is Monday, the 18th of May, 2020. Don’t forget, links to all of these stories are in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcasting app, as well as on the new WODDITY.com.

I just want to go fast, coach, so I have time for a clip from Dave Castro and CrossFit at the end. Let’s hit the gas. 

Latest CrossFit Drug Sanctions

CrossFit announced in a press release Sunday that they have finalized the PED sanctions on Greek National Champion and 2020 CrossFit Open bronze finisher Lefteris Theofanidis. They had originally announced Theofanidis had failed a drug test in January but have now formalized his four-year ban from competition. The drug test was administered at the Dubai CrossFit Championship last December and he tested positive for both anabolic and hormonal drugs. If you remember how Lefteris responded back when the announcement originally came out, then you understand when I say “good riddance”. 

Also announced in the press release was that Alanna Fisk Colon, who ranked 21st in the 2020 CrossFit Open, has received an extension for her appeal, but she is banned from ongoing competition during the appeal. Not that there are any competitions, but I digress.

Racial Remarks from CrossFit Apparel Company CEO

Jennifer Rando is under fire this week for a public Instagram post featuring her kids and a racial slur targeting latin americans. Rando is the CEO of CrossFit-oriented apparel and gear company Unbroken Designs. Among the allegations rising out of this recent behavior is that she forged a hostile takeover to edge out co-owner and five-time regional athlete Kat Leone, now the owner of Vullsport. The story has been covered everywhere from from Morning Chalk Up to the Obese to Beast YouTube series.

CrossFit’s Tough Decisions

And to close things out today, Dave Castro and CrossFit have shared a video addressing their recent tough decision to cancel the team and age group competitions in order to move forward with a decreased elite individual field at the 2020 CrossFit Games. This audio is courtesy of CrossFit.

That’s it for news about CrossFit for Monday, May 18th. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. For WODDITY, I’m Ben Garves. Behave yourselves out there.

By Ben Garves

Ben Garves is a digital product expert, author, entertainer, and activist. His portfolio of thought leadership in digital marketing and web experiences has included major clients like Microsoft, Google, Twitter, eBay, and Facebook. He’s also a freelance health and fitness journalist with over 400 stories written since 2018, a podcaster with 200 episodes to his name, and runs a YouTube channel with over 100 fitness and activism-oriented videos and live streams. Ben has founded the Fitness is for Everyone™ initiative to raise awareness about social injustice in both racial inequality and socioeconomic disparity in access to quality fitness and nutrition options around the globe.

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