On Tuesday, Jan. 4, CrossFit parted ways with Dave Castro, the founder of the CrossFit Games and a driving force behind the systemization of CrossFit into the Sport of Fitness.
In an internal statement to CrossFit employees, CrossFit CEO Eric Roza wrote, “I have made the difficult decision to change the leadership of the Sport team to best support CrossFit’s go-forward plans, and Dave Castro will be leaving the business.”
The statement continued:
Over the last fifteen years, Dave has played a key role in building CrossFit into what it is today.
His vision, creativity and drive have taken the CrossFit Games from an informal backyard competition at his family’s ranch into a global phenomenon with hundreds of thousands of participants and millions of viewers worldwide. Dave was also a central figure in the growth of CrossFit’s training business, helping to scale the seminar department to reach tens of thousands of trainers.
All of us in the world of CrossFit owe Dave a debt of gratitude for his contributions, and we wish him well as he brings his talents to his next chapter.
Justin Bergh, former general manager of the CrossFit Games and VP of sport and partnerships, will lead the Games team going forward.
Roza said, “Dave has assembled a world-class team, which will now be led by Justin Bergh, and we are excited to see this new generation of leadership build on his legacy as we work together to bring our Sport to the next level of success.”