Hyrox’s Joanna Wietrzyk Breaks Silence After Defecating Incident

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Joanna Wietrzyk is flushing out an apology.

Days after the Australian athlete went viral for defecating on herself during a Hyrox competition, she weighed in on the controversy with an apology—and an explanation for her actions.

“I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers,” Wietrzyk wrote in a Sept. 17 Instagram statement, “for what happened during the race in Beijing.”

According to the 24-year-old—who is the global fitness race’s current women’s world-record holder—she “felt completely fit and healthy at the start of the race, with no reason to expect any illness.”

“Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. I recognize that I should have made a different choice,” she continued. “I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused.”

ICYMI, Wietrzyk suddenly became ill in the middle of the 16-24 age group Hyrox competition—which consists of running and completing sets of functional exercises—in Beijing on Sept. 12. While at the fourth out of the eight workout stations, which featured burpee broad jumps, Wietrzyk began soiling herself, with feces running down her legs.

But instead of withdrawing from the competition, the athlete continued on, completing the subsequent exercises despite her emptying bowels or the fact that her fellow competitors had to use feces-covered equipment.

And since no one from the competition intervened amid the crappy situation—though Hyrox, for their part, asserted in a since-deleted statement that it had “clear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place”—not only finished the race, but won, with a time of 1:01:23. (The rule book has since been altered regarding regulations on “contamination” risks.)

But while apologizing for her actions, Wietrzyk shared that she has decided to give up her win.

VCG/VCG via Getty Images

“I know my actions had an impact beyond myself, and I am genuinely sorry to everyone who was affected,” she wrote. “I am learning from this experience and will carry those lessons with me, including remembering that there is more to life than racing and knowing when it is right to step away.”

“On reflection,” she added. “I have decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points I earned.”

As for where Wietrzyk goes from here?

“I will be taking some time to recover,” she wrote while concluding her statement, “reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise.”

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