Weighing the Fallout from Spanish Throwdown
If we’ve learned one lesson from Monday’s story about the Spanish Throwdown denying the second place RX athlete her prize purse because she couldn’t make the ceremony it’s the risk of standing your ground amid a very unpopular decision.
Be smart: The smart thing would have been to pay out the athlete after several olive branches were extended rather than cause this much of a stir over €300.
The fallout: In the wake of Spanish Throwdown’s decision to hold the line and refuse payment multiple companies and events have stepped in to right what the community sees as mistreatment of an athlete.
- FITAID announced they would cover the prize purse in full.
- Morning Chalk Up partnered with Noah Ohlsen on a gofundme campaign to raise the money for the community. That fundraiser has now raised more than $1200 which will be donated to Down Syndrome Cork.
- The Spain-based PicSil Sport offered to pay the prize purse.
- Filthy 150 the Irish Sanctional attempted to operate as a mediator between events to collect the prize purse with no success.
- The Norwegian CrossFit Championship sanctioned event offered her free entry to their online qualifier and free hotel if she qualifies for the event.
- The incident sparked an opinion piece in the Spanish sports magazine Diario AS, the topic of the day on the WODDITY podcast and more than 1,000 comments on social media posts.
For what it’s worth: The rules technically state that she forfeited her prize purse by not attending the award ceremony, but the ceremony also started late. Attending would have caused Cliona to miss her flight.
UPDATE 9/18 @ 8:20 AM PT:
- PicSil Sport will be donating €300 at Cliona’s request to Asociación Contra El Cáncer.
- FITAID will be donating €300 to Down Syndrome Cork at Cliona’s request.
- Morning Chalk Up will be paying Cliona’s €300 prize purse and donating the remainder of the money crowdfunded by the CrossFit community to Down Syndrome Cork.
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