It was a sunny day in Paris.
A group of about 40 athletes were gathered at CrossFit Lutèce in France to complete 17.5, 10 rounds for time of 9 thrusters and 35 double-unders—the last workout of the 2017 CrossFit Games Open.
As he looked around at the crowd gathered in the gym to complete the final Open workout, owner and head coach Antoine Escrivant had an idea.
He wanted everyone to do the workout outside.
Escrivant didn’t want them to work out in front of the gym—he had a particular location in mind. He wanted his athletes to finish the Open along the banks of the Seine, the iconic river that runs through Paris and an important part of its geography.
When he proposed the idea of moving the athletes and equipment about a mile away, “one of (the members) started shouting that he owned a truck and that he was ready to carry all the bars and jump ropes,” Escrivant wrote in an email.
Moving quickly, coaches and members worked together to move the equipment.
“So we went outside and did 17.5 in front of the Seine,” Escrivant wrote. “It was awesome, a lot of people who didn’t know about CrossFit (began watching) and they began to encourage us and even counted the repetitions.”
International Growth
CrossFit is exploding around the world, with some of the fastest growth happening in France and Brazil. This growth makes the Open a truly global competition, a five-week celebration of fitness worldwide.
In honor of this growth, Open Workout 18.1 was announced live in São Paulo, Brazil, at Ginasio Poliesportivo Dr. Antonio Leme Nunes Galvao (Morumbi Stadium), and Open Workout 18.5 will be announced live from Reykjavik, Iceland, a country that has produced the women’s CrossFit Games champion in four of the last seven years.
CrossFit Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil, has been around long enough to see much of the growth of CrossFit in its country. The gym has been open for almost five years, and 60 percent of its 143 members have been training there for four years or more.
Owner Leandro Leite said most people would come in asking “what is CrossFit?” when he opened. Now, Leite said most people in Brazil have heard of CrossFit, and his challenge is showing them CrossFit is for everyone. For Leite, the Open helps spread the word and strengthen the bond shared by the members of CrossFit Ibirapuera.
“(It’s) where strong ties are created, personal victories are celebrated together,” Leite wrote in an email. For him, the Open is about “the joy of seeing everyone else’s progress.”
Leite said he notices members of his gym encouraging one another to sign up for the Open. Newer members will say they don’t think they are ready, and Leite says veterans will tell them, “If you do not sign up this year, I'm sure next year you'll regret not having done it.”
He loves seeing members get their first pull-ups or muscle-ups, or seeing someone who has been battling double-unders figure them out in the Open, but Leite said it’s not those accomplishments that make the Open meaningful to him.
“What excites (me) the most is to look at each of the participants and see in their eyes the same joy as when they were children and participated in the first competition in school,” he wrote.
To recognize that effort, Leite gives everyone who participates an “Honra ou Merito” (Merit Honor) medal.
“The important thing for ourselves is that we … overcome another obstacle and win,” Leite wrote.
Across the Atlantic, the Open is a celebration at CrossFit Lutèce. The affiliate has only been open for three years but already has two locations and more than 330 members. The Open is a big deal at the French affiliate, and coaches have been talking about it since December. As of press time, more than 150 members had signed up. The emphasis is on fun—Escrivant describes the Open as a five-week-long party at the gym.
The owner makes a special T-shirt each year, and he organizes a brunch at the end of the five weeks to give out awards to the best athlete and the most improved from the previous Open.
Global Fitness
CrossFit is taking off internationally, with double-digit 2017 increases in the number of affiliates in Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, China, Switzerland, Portugal and Denmark.
The CrossFit Games women’s leaderboard reflects this trend: An American woman hasn’t stood on the Games podium since 2014. Further, a woman from outside the U.S. has won the Open every year since 2012.
Beyond the Sport of Fitness, Escrivant said he’s noticed more people in France have heard of CrossFit in general, so it’s easier to attract people to the gym.
“People are now more familiar with CrossFit, but they don’t really know all about CrossFit,” Escrivant wrote.
The global explosion of CrossFit makes the CrossFit Games a truly international competition, both at the Open level for everyday athletes just hoping to improve over last year and at the elite level for those looking for a spot at the Games.
For the next five weeks, you can measure yourself against CrossFit athletes in your affiliate, your state, your region—and on the other side of the world.