[imagesource: Instagram / Pieter Smith]

You don’t need to have done it to know that CrossFit is intense.

The community alone, who are wildly loyal to the sport, prove that point.

Aside from the regular shvitzing, the current drama in the South African CrossFit community is making okes sweat even more profusely.

A South African team member tested positive for an illegal substance ahead of being invited to compete in the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games.

The CrossFit Tijger Valley Unit finished second at the Fittest in Cape Town semi-final competition held recently, which meant they were not going to continue on to the main competition.

However, the first place winner, Lize Burns from CrossFit Commit Okavango, tested positive for a banned substance, getting her team disqualified, reported BoxRox.

That made CrossFit HQ turn to the second-placed team to fill the spot, except Pieter Smith (pictured up top) was not expecting that at all.

Smith had taken RAD140 – more commonly known as Testolone, which mimics the activity of testosterone in the body – and thus failed the drug test that, had he passed, would have helped his team be the lone African representatives in the upcoming competition.

He made a heartfelt apology for this misstep on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Pieter Smith (@pieter.smith.714)

South America is also dealing with a drug test crisis, only sending one team instead of two after the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth-placed teams all failed drug tests. Only the fifth-placed team was invited to compete.

The Morning Chalk Up mentioned that these gaps are largely due to CrossFit “not following the established protocols for testing further down the roster in the event that a team or individual fails a drug test”.

[sources:boxrox&morningchalkup]