It’s been a tough year for the CrossFit brand.
First, the COVID-19 pandemic put an indefinite hold on sporting events across the globe. Then, a wave of sexual harassment allegations were leveled against CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman that led to an enormous economic downturn for CrossFit as athletes resigned from games in protest and corporations withdrew their sponsorships. Now, CrossFit is turning over a new leaf, as Greg Glassman officially vacates his position as CEO and Eric Roza takes the helm.
“At CrossFit, every day we learn the value of hard work, resilience, and shared sacrifice towards a common goal,” Roza wrote in a Twitter post that doubled as an official statement on his appointment as CEO to the company. “Following a month of hard work by several dozen individuals on our respective deal teams, I’m delighted to report we have signed the final contract to purchase CrossFit from Greg Glassman…now the real work begins!”
Eric Roza certainly seems excited to take CrossFit in a new direction and develop the brand and fitness community into something they can all be proud of as a community.
Today we signed the final contract to purchase 100% of CrossFit … Now the real work begins! pic.twitter.com/0ZT9gQbdpJ
— Eric Roza (@RozaEric) July 24, 2020
“I see a nearly boundless opportunity for CrossFit to become the world’s leading platform for Health, Happiness, and Performance,” he wrote. “To this end, my team and I have spoken directly with hundreds of folks, and we’ve received and read emails and social posts from thousands of others…thank you for your candor, well-wishes, great ideas, and tough love…the consistent themes have been a profound belief in the unparalleled power of CrossFit to change lives; a mandate that CrossFit provide a culture of inclusion that works tirelessly to eliminate racism, sexism, and bias.”
After Greg Glassman made disparaging comments about BLM during the historic George Floyd protests, the CrossFit community was unanimous in their rejection of his bigoted and unacceptable behavior. Instead of learning from his mistakes, Glassman dug deeper, and even sent employees an email calling their attempts to “brand [him] a racist” as being “wrong to the point of being evil.” CrossFit star Katrin Davidsdottir documented some of Greg Glassman’s racist behavior in the Instagram post below.
After CrossFit appointed Dave Castro interim CEO, many athletes were disappointed that the move did not go far enough to distance the company from its racist behavior. With many of the athletes rising up in protest, CrossFit had no choice but to look outside the company for more inclusive leadership.
It will take the community time to heal and learn from the mistakes that were made in the past, but it signifies a real commitment on the part of CrossFit to make change to a system that was corrupted by racist and sexist ideology. What’s truly remarkable about this situation is that athletes were able to take a stand and make a difference in the executive direction of their company by working as a group. Eric Roza is hopeful that he can take the company in a better direction as CEO, and so are we!
*All images and media courtesy of Instagram and Twitter.
