November 9, 2013
USA vs. The World: Decisions That Made the Difference

On Saturday, Oct. 26, Team World entered the CrossFit Invitational in Berlin as the underdog, but the group pulled off an upset that surprised everyone—except its members.

“We want to win, otherwise we wouldn’t have come this far, right?” asked Team World member Kara Webb.

This video presents highlights of the 75-minute competition, including interviews, sounds from the coaches’ microphones, and special behind-the-scenes footage.

As Team World coach Mads Jacobsen quietly remained on the sidelines, Team USA coach Matt Chan yelled motivation and rarely stayed in one spot.

“I want you guys to get out here and fucking destroy this workout. Don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Think about this as, ‘We are gonna crush this motherfucker,’” Chan told the female Team USA members while they were shaking off the effects of Event 1 and preparing for Event 2. “I’d head butt y’all right now but I think it would be inappropriate.”

Team USA fell behind after Event 1 and lost Event 2 but came back to win Event 3 and two-thirds of the points available in Event 4. Before the critical final event, Team USA led by just two points.

“You got one big one left, seven points. This is win or lose, this is win or lose. This is it. This is the one,” a fired-up Chan told Team USA. ”You’re here because you’re the best, because you can recover the most from the most shit. … Let’s go out there and fucking win.”

But it was Team World that was victorious in the last event, making the final score 24 to 19 in favor of the athletes from Europe, Australia and Canada.

“We came in definitely as the underdogs,” said Games champion Sam Briggs. “I think I can genuinely say that everybody gave it their everything.”

To watch the entire competition, visit Games.CrossFit.com.

Video by Heber Cannon.