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A Brief History of the CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games came to an exciting and exhilarating end this past Sunday at the Home Depot Center in Southern California. Here's a recap of each year's events and winners.

Becca Borawski

Written by Last updated on Oct 19, 2021

The CrossFit Games came to an exciting and exhilarating end this past Sunday at the Home Depot Center in Southern California. This year marked the first year of CrossFit’s partnership with Reebok to present the Games and the first year ESPN was involved in broadcasting the Games lives on the internet.

It is not unreasonable to imagine that before long CrossFit will be an alternative spot on par with strong man competitions and the X-Games, broadcast on television and known worldwide. But, with such exponential growth happening in the CrossFit community, does everyone know where the Games started and how far they have come?

2007 – The first ever CrossFit Games take place in Aromas, CA. The ranch where the Games are held is the family property of Dave Castro’s parents. Anyone who wants to can register to compete.
Male Champion: James Fitzgerald

Female Champion: Jolie Gentry

2008 – In the second year of the CrossFit Games it is first come first serve as far as securing a spot in the competition with a cap of 300 athletes. This year, however, there are complaints some of the best athletes did not make it into the competition and rumors begin that the next year there will be qualifiers on a regional level. The film “Every Second Counts” follows the action of this year’s Games.
Male Champion: Jason Khalipa

Female Champion: Caity Matter

2009 – The first year of qualifiers. Individual athletes must compete and qualify on a regional level before advancing to the Games. Team competition, however, is still first come first serve. An overwhelming registration for the team competition prompts suggestions that teams, too, will have to qualify in upcoming years.
Male Champion: Mikko Salo

Female Champion: Tanya Wagner

2010 – CrossFit adds Sectional qualifiers that select athletes to move onto Regionals and then finally onto the Games. For the first time, teams must also qualify at the Regionals and a Masters Division is added to the competition. The Games move to Southern California and take place at the Home Depot Center in Carson. The male and female individual winners are each awarded $25,000. The event is broadcast in entirety by CrossFit, streaming live on the internet.
Male Champion: Graham Holmberg

Female Champion: Kristan Clever

2011 – CrossFit does away with Sectional qualifiers and instead innovates an internet based competition for spots at Regional competitions. Reebok partners with CrossFit and the Games are again held at the Home Depot Center. This year, however, individual male and female winners are each awarded $250,000 and $1,000,000 total in prize money is given away. The Masters Division is divided up even further into four age groups. ESPN3 broadcasts 3 hours of live event coverage on the internet each day of the Games.
Male Champion: Rich Froning Jr.

Female Champion: Annie Thorisdottir

Becca Borawski

About Becca Borawski

Becca found her way to a career in health and fitness through Martial Arts and CrossFit. Originally a music editor for film and television, Becca started studying Martial Arts in 2000. Though she started with traditional Martial Arts it was not long before she discovered Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and her path was forever altered. She began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Muay Thai and started working with professional MMA fighters, building websites, working on fight promotions, and producing videos.

As a competitor in BJJ herself, Becca wanted to get stronger and fitter. In 2006 she discovered CrossFit and became a student at CrossFit Los Angeles. In only a couple of years she became CrossFit Level III Certified, left her career in the film industry, and dedicated herself full time to coaching. She has since been certified through CrossFit in Olympic Lifting, Powerlifting, Nutrition, Endurance and Kids coaching. She also held an NSCA-CSCS from 2006-2008 and is a certified IndoRow instructor. In addition to coaching adults, she founded the CrossFit LA Kids program in 2010 and taught children aged 5-17.

Becca regularly takes on new sports, which have included indoor rowing, fencing, and most recently, cycling, as she believes it makes her both a better athlete and a better coach. In order to reach more people with her coaching, Becca also created ModernAthena.com – a website dedicated to women in pursuit of physical fitness and self-improvement.

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