CrossFit Has Fired Games Director Dave Castro Ahead Of 2022 ...

Ex-CrossFit Games Director and general manager of Sport Dave Castro has been fired from his position at CrossFit LLC by CEO Eric Roza, according to a leaked internal email sent to CrossFit employees.

Sent on January 4th 2022, the internal email sent to CrossFit LLC staff by Roza detailed: "I have made the difficult decision to change the leadership of the Sport team to best support CrossFit’s go-forward plans, and Dave Castro will be leaving the business."

Continuing, Roza wrote that Castro's "vision, creativity and drive have taken the CrossFit Games from an informal backyard competition at his family’s ranch into a global phenomenon with hundreds of thousands of participants and millions of viewers worldwide."

"Dave was also a central figure in the growth of CrossFit’s training business, helping to scale the seminar department to reach tens of thousands of trainers. All of us in the world of CrossFit owe Dave a debt of gratitude for his contributions, and we wish him well as he brings his talents to his next chapter," Roza continued in the email.

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"Dave has assembled a world-class team, which will now be led by Justin Bergh, and we are excited to see this new generation of leadership build on his legacy as we work together to bring our Sport to the next level of success."

The shake-up at CrossFit HQ comes just seven weeks before the 2022 CrossFit Games season begins. Castro, who programmed 15 CrossFit Games competitions, will be replaced by CrossFit employee Justin Bergh, who will be promoted from his position as VP of Sport and Partnerships.

Speaking of the announcement on his Instagram, Castro posted "I have talked to Roza once in the last 3 or so months during his time away. He called me tonight to fire me. He told me they had messaging prepared that this was mutual. I asked him not to use that because that couldn’t be further from the truth."

View full post on Instagram

In the comments, a lot of Castro's Instagram followers shared their support. "The CrossFit community is behind you Dave. Without you CrossFit wouldn’t be where it’s at today. Extremely heart breaking to hear this news," wrote one user.

"CrossFit [sic] getting soft," posted another.

"Bad fuckin move, what a huge mistake they’ve made," another post, liked hundreds of times by other users, wrote.

(h/t: Morning Chalk Up)

Edward Cooper

Ed Cooper is the former Deputy Digital Editor at Men’s Health UK, writing and editing about anything you want to know about — from tech to fitness, mental health to style, food and so much more. Ed has run the MH gauntlet, including transformations, marathons and er website re-designs. He’s awful at pub sports, though. Follow him: @EA_Cooper