The 2021 CrossFit Games is expected to go down July 27th – August 1st. It appears that it will take place without Move Fast Lift Heavy after a member of the team failed a drug test.
Move Fast Lift Heavy qualified for the 2021 Games after a successful performance at the Granite Games. They were expecting to move on to the team events, and walk away with a victory.
Unfortunately that no longer seems to be the case, at they could be facing a disqualification. Although this is not officially the case just yet, things appear to be headed in that direction, after reports have revealed that one of the members of the team, by the name of Katie Christian, failed a drug test following the Granite Games.
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It has been revealed that Christian tested positive for Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is a substances banned by CrossFit’s stringent drug testing policies. With a post to Instagram, the Move Fast Lift Heavy member admitted to taking this substance, although she did not realize it was a banned substance.
“This is the start of the hardest post I will ever have to make. For those who love and support me, and follow my journey I feel its necessary to put out my story and share this unfortunate shattering news: Movefastliftheavy Crew will be disqualified from the 2021 CrossFit Games due to a failed drug test from a team member who happens to be myself,” Christian wrote.
“When we first got this news, my whole body went numb and the world was spinning. I couldn’t help but to think right away that this MUST be a mistake. For those of you who know me, I am fair, loyal, and extremely dedicated to the work I put in. I am very good to my body, I take care of myself and I am always looking to be the best I can be. My passions in nutrition and homeopathic medicine have lead me into taking various vitamins, supplements and herbs that I feel help me stay healthy, strong and steer me away from any prescribed medications. One of these supplements was DHEA.
“After a few days of investigating the possible errors that could have occurred, it was brought to my attention that DHEA was flagged from my current list of supplements,” the Move Fast Lift Heavy member added. “DHEA is a hormone that your body naturally produces in the adrenal gland. Amongst many things, DHEA is a mood and stress stabilizer and is one of the few things I started supplementing to help with my skin and hormone imbalances after getting off of hormonal birth control that I was on for about 10+ years.
“You get this supplement over the counter at the vitamin store and it usually sits right next to vitamin-D. This was something that would never strike me as being a banned substance, for my idea of a banned substance goes to a totally different realm of things.
“This post is not about me trying to justify that I am in the right, because I am far from it,” Christian concluded. “As an athlete who was heading to the Crossfit Games, it was absolutely MY responsibility to do my homework on the substances that are banned vs the supplements I was taking and that is on me and nobody else.
“If anything, I hope that this can be a learning point for many athletes. Just because you can buy something at your local store doesn’t mean it is not on a list that doesn’t allow you to take it. Do your research & know what you’re taking.”
It should be noted that while DHEA is a banned substance for anyone looking to compete at the CrossFit Games, research is shown that this substance is not provide any performance-enhancing benefits in terms of muscle strength. Although because it helps produce both estrogen and testosterone, CrossFit has categorized as an Endogenous Anabolic Androgenic Steroid.
With Katie Christian testing positive for this, her failure results in the entire team Move Fast Lift Heavy to be disqualified. This is a similar situation to the one that we saw recently with another team who had qualified for the 2021 CrossFit Games.
It is unclear at this time whether or not CrossFit will backfill this position, although that is what they did when team On Track was removed from the Games due to a similar issue. It is unfortunate that this has happened, but athletes are given guidelines to follow well in advance, to help prevent such things from occurring.
