In this installment of the Behind the Scenes series, Sevan Matossian takes his camera off the competition floor to talk to CrossFit staff, judges, volunteers and competitors on the final two days of the 2012 edition of the CrossFit Games.

Athlete Austin Malleolo offers some insight about whether he came to the Games to win.

“Well, yeah. I don’t think you come here without wanting to win. But I think setting realistic goals along the way is something that’s allowed me to be mentally sane,” Malleolo says.

There must be a hierarchy of goals, he adds.

“You gotta keep your dick out of the dirt and keep charging along,” Malleolo says with a smile.

Games Director Dave Castro offers some insight into the planning that goes into the competition’s workouts, which must test the world’s fittest athletes in a variety of ways.

“There is a fine line between programming events that are fair and balanced to finding the fittest man alive and programming events that are too heavy, where they become a strongman contest,” he explains. “And what we’ve become good at is knowing where that line meets and where the intersection is and appreciating the value of what the appropriate loading is for the time.”

Finally, athletes and fans alike answer a question that will loom very large in July: can two-time Games champs Annie Thorisdottir and Rich Froning Jr. defend their crowns again in 2013?

Video by Sevan Matossian and Matt Krautstrunk.