Australian athlete apologizes for racing with diarrhea, forfeits the Beijing competition she won

The Hyrox athlete who started a global uproar after soiling herself and leaking feces at the popular indoor fitness competition has apologized for continuing to race, and forfeited her win.

“I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the Hyrox organizers for what happened during the race in Beijing,” Australian Joanna Wietrzyk wrote in a statement posted to Instagram Thursday morning.

“Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. I recognize that I should have made a different choice.”

Wietrzyk explained she felt “completely fit and healthy at the start of the race, with no reason to expect any illness.” She added that, “on reflection,” she decided to retroactively forfeit her win and the points she earned.

“I know my actions had an impact beyond myself, and I am genuinely sorry to everyone who was affected.”

The graphic images of world record holder Wietrzyk competing with feces running down her legs at Saturday’s Hyrox in Beijing have sparked debate about the health and safety of competitors versus the mentality that a win is a win, no matter the cost.

Footage showed Wietrzyk continue to push through her events using communal equipment such as ropes, sandbags, rowing machines and medicine balls, and doing burpees and lunges on a shared indoor track. She was the pro women’s champion with a time of 1:01:23.

“Go hard or go home … a win is a win,” Wietrzyk posted — then later deleted — on Instagram after the event along with a selfie in what appeared to be a hospital bed, according to multiple news outlets.

Hyrox refunding affected participants

As the incident went viral, online commenters were quick to point out the health risks for other competitors, with many people saying Wietrzyk should have quit or Hyrox should have disqualified her. Others are calling on Hyrox to refund the other competitors or offer them compensation.

On Wednesday, Hyrox China announced it was refunding the entry costs to more than 1,000 participants affected by the incident, according to the South China Morning Post. A spectator at the event told the outlet that feces was visible on the track about 30 minutes after Wietrzyk started her race, causing several runners to slip.

Other athletes who competed in the same race described having to use equipment smeared with feces.

On Monday, Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste wrote in an Instagram statement that the organization has since changed its rules to prevent similar situations from happening again.

Its official rulebook already lists penalties for other bodily fluids, noting that spitting or clearing of nostrils onto the floor is strictly prohibited. Until this week, there was no mention of penalties for feces contaminating the race course.

“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,” Wietrzyk wrote in her apology.

She added that she will be taking some time to “recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise.”