CrossFit Games GM on Garard Suspension

[Alex Burden]

OMG

This is not good, and getting the results so late!

How long is he banned for??? a long time i hope.

Will they change the leaderboard and remove all of his results?

[Christopher Morris]

Originally Posted by Alex Burden

OMG

This is not good, and getting the results so late!

How long is he banned for??? a long time i hope.

Through the end of the 2021 season. His best, youngest competing years are gone.

Will they change the leaderboard and remove all of his results?

Yes-ish. Patrick Vellner is named third fittest. His thoughts:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ1ZznZh...en-by=pvellner (wfs)

Official statement
https://games.crossfit.com/article/r...d-disqualified (wfs)

Garard has to return prize money.

Garard's statement boils down to "I knew what I was taking, but got away with it at Regionals."
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0cR32h...by=rickygarard (wfs)

Here are the links spelled out, as someday they might be expired.

2017 Reebok CrossFit Games podium finisher Ricky Garard has been stripped of his third-place title after testing positive for banned performance-enhancing substances in a sample taken after this year’s final event.

Additionally, CrossFit has disqualified two other athletes.

Tony Turski, a 56-year-old masters athlete from Southern California who finished second in the Masters Men 55-59 Division, tested positive for Anastrozole. Fifty-two-year-old Josée Sarda of Canada East, who placed first in the Masters Women 50-54 Division, tested positive for selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), ostarine and testolone.

Garard, a 23-year-old from Australia, will lose the US$76,000 he’d won for his third-place overall finish and his first-place finishes in the Madison Triplet and Cyclocross events. He’s also been banned from participating in any CrossFit-sanctioned event through the 2021 season, and his invitation to compete in the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Invitational has been rescinded.

With Garard’s disqualification, Patrick Vellner becomes the third-place finisher of the 2017 Games.

The sample taken from Garard at the 2017 Games tested positive for testolone, and a beta-2 agonist known as endurobol. Anabolic agents and beta-2 agonists are specifically named as banned classes of drugs in the CrossFit Games Rulebook. CrossFit incorporates its drug-testing program throughout the Games season and outside of competition. There’s no tolerance for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, in any CrossFit-sanctioned competition.

“The CrossFit Games have never had a top individual athlete test positive for PEDs until this case,” said General Manager of the CrossFit Games Justin Bergh. “Historically, the most frequent causes for a failed test have been masters athletes failing to read and accept our policy for hormone replacement in competition, and individual and team athletes using supplements containing banned substances not found on labels. Garard’s case does not appear to be accidental, and we take this result very seriously.”

Known as the world’s definitive test of fitness, the CrossFit Games ensure a level playing field, in part, by strongly enforcing an anti-doping policy—an absolute necessity in order to crown the Fittest on Earth. CrossFit partners with Drug Free Sport, which conducts drug analysis for the NFL, NBA, MLB and NCAA, along with 300 other sports and athletic organizations, to administer its testing program. A laboratory approved by WADA processes blood and urine samples collected from CrossFit Games athletes.

Competitors may be sanctioned for a number of infractions apart from positive test results, including tampering in any way with samples; evading, refusing or failing to submit to a drug test; or attempting to or successfully trafficking any prohibited substances or methods. CrossFit may also recognize violations, including positive tests, reported by other anti-doping organizations, such as the United States Anti-Doping Agency, in their in- and out-of-competition testing within other sports.

“The Games are an opportunity for athletes to prove their fitness through competition. The diversity of our events is part of what validates the claim that these are the fittest people on Earth,” Bergh said. “Drug testing is another important test, which ensures that the training and talent of the athletes are what determine the outcome. Garard failed to validate his performance this year and will face a four-year suspension from competition. We will closely evaluate the circumstances of his case and others, and adjust our directed testing accordingly. All athletes can be confident that CrossFit will aggressively pursue and punish anyone who attempts to use drugs to gain an advantage in competition.”

In the 2017 season, CrossFit has previously disqualified three athletes who’d won berths to the 2017 Games in both individual and team competition due to PED use. More recently, the organization disqualified five Meridian athletes—four men and one woman—who’d tested positive for PEDs in samples taken during the Regional event. None of those athletes were podium finishers but had been subjected to directed testing because of credible information CrossFit officials had obtained about possible PED use. The announcement of their disqualifications and suspensions came later in the season because of the need for supplemental testing of their samples.

CrossFit incorporates testing of all podium finishers, along with both random and directed testing in and out of the season. The sport is committed to disclosing positive drug test results and punishments in a timely manner once the investigations into the matters are complete.

“Any athlete who uses performance-enhancing drugs is directly attacking his fellow competitors, our community and our sport,” Bergh said. “It is our responsibility, along with athletes themselves, to identify those threats and remove them. As the heads of the sport, we will do our part to provide the means necessary to ensure this continues to happen.”

Garard

As you can appreciate my world has come crashing down, it is heart breaking & it's hard to comprehend that I am in this position.

On the pursuit of becoming all I could be as a CrossFit athlete, I have obviously taken the rules & boundaries to the very edge. I looked into, researched & was willing to dabble into ways that could improve my performance legally & within the rules, with no intention whatsoever to be a cheat.

I was taking the same supplements at The CrossFit Games as I did at The Pacific Regionals. Therefore, I didn't feel the need to change anything. I thought I was legitimately competing within the rules with no unfair advantage over others.
But, after further investigation & very specific testing it has been revealed that my research has failed me & I have received a positive test for SARMS. To be clear these supplements were taken in tablet form with nothing ever injected.
Everyone in life makes mistakes, it's how you learn from them that separates the great from the mediocre.
These actions don't define me, this sport doesn't define me.

It's the lessons & growth of my character that truly matter.
In time, I know this will be the best thing that ever happened to me. I wanted the title, I wanted to win & I was willing to do everything in my power to achieve that goal.
Not for one second should you take away the hard work, sacrifice & dedication of my efforts.

At 23 years old I have a lot of years left in my life, I have endured the process & I have become something because of it.
In the end, I am apart of their sport, The CrossFit Games. They have rules, guidelines & policies to abide by. I have unintentionally ****ed up, their evidence has proven me guilty & I will own my actions day by day for the rest of my life.
I really hope The CrossFit Games continues to tighten up their testing procedures, enforce the same level of strictness to all other competitors like they have to me & they continue to strive towards a legit drug free sport. It's tough to be on the receiving end when I know and have seen other top athletes in the sport intentionally out smarting the system, getting away with it & ruining the integrity of the sport.
Because of this outcome I will learn a lot about myself, wipe my tears & be accountable for every single decision I make in this life. Ultimately that is what it means to be a man.
I am reminding myself that sometimes life seems to be destroying you when it's actually saving you, time will only reveal what it's saving me from?

Haters will hate, and that's ok. They are entitled to express their insecurities to the world. I will focus & deal with what is within my control.

This news is heavy, it's real, but I will get myself together and keep moving forward.
Sorry to anyone I have affected personally & sorry to anyone that is sharing my pain. I trust that the people closest to me will understand, remain loyal and be there to support me.
I am coming to terms that nothing will ever be given to me in life, I know how to earn it the hard way & I will do just that for whatever it is I pursue next.

[Christopher Morris]

Vellner

Last night I was named the Third Fittest Man on Earth for the second consecutive year. Not to cheers of the Crossfit community, or to the joy of my family, but alone at home, sitting at my kitchen table doing homework. I am happy and proud to be now named to the podium. I am overwhelmed and excited and frankly a little giddy. However, I'm also disappointed. Those precious moments at the Crossfit Games are ones that I work so hard all year for, and they are moments that I can never get back. I lost an event win, I lost the experience of having back to back podiums, and worst of all, I lost the chance to stand on that podium with a fellow Canadian. I’m glad that Crossfit is catching some big fish and showing that their testing works, but I’m sad to see this stain on the sport. Integrity in sport is so important. When someone cheats, they aren’t simply cheating the sport, they are cheating the other athletes who have sacrificed a lot to get where they are. This is just sad and unfair.
There are no shortcuts to success. Success is made at the gym on a Tuesday afternoon when you are one piece into a 5 piece workout and you want to just call it and go home to watch Netflix, but you don't. Success is looking at the guy next to you and knowing if he works hard, you gotta work harder. It is built one rep, one grind, one workout at a time.
So to anyone out there who thinks it might be a good idea to give him or herself that extra edge. Put down your PED and pick up a goddam barbell.
Thanks everyone for the support. Let's work for a better, cleaner 2018 season.

[Christopher Morris]

Should we go through all the speculation on drug use again? If someone's build looks a certain way, they must be using PEDs? There are ways to use and not get caught? No one can perform and recover like that without PEDs?

I don't think there can be definitive answers unless a test comes back positive. Otherwise, look at what these players are saying. They are consistent with what a reasonable person would say in their situation. Garard sounds like a person that got caught using, and he knows he made a choice outside the rules. Vellner sounds like a what a person not using would sound like.

Beyond that is speculation.

[Vic McQuaide]

"It's tough to be on the receiving end when I know and have seen other top athletes in the sport intentionally out smarting the system, getting away with it & ruining the integrity of the sport. '

Lets get the names and start testing.

[Alex Burden]

Originally Posted by Christopher Morris

Should we go through all the speculation on drug use again? If someone's build looks a certain way, they must be using PEDs? There are ways to use and not get caught? No one can perform and recover like that without PEDs?

I don't think there can be definitive answers unless a test comes back positive. Otherwise, look at what these players are saying. They are consistent with what a reasonable person would say in their situation. Garard sounds like a person that got caught using, and he knows he made a choice outside the rules. Vellner sounds like a what a person not using would sound like.

Beyond that is speculation.

No speculation anymore or has ever been. We all know it's there no matter what the sport, to horses to dogs you name it.

All they can do is increase the testing and hopefully catch more of them.

[Sean J Hunter]

A very disappointing reply from a Garard...

S

[Vic McQuaide]

Benny we want names!

[Alex Burden]

If he does give Names he will never be able to be a part of CF again.

Even if he does not publicly say the names nobody will ever trust him again.

Lose lose situation

I think if you are ever caught you should be banned for 10 years from all competitions. So if you are caught you know it is game over.

Just look at Justin Gatlin, what a joke, once a cheater always a cheater.

[Vic McQuaide]

I believe he's done anyway. Would not mind if he names names...