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'I made the wrong decision,' Hyrox athlete who soiled herself in race tells BBC

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Joanna Wietrzyk admitted to the BBC that her fierce determination to secure a victory in Beijing clouded her judgement midway through the race. She acknowledged that she failed to consider others when deciding to continue competing after soiling herself. Following the event, images showing faecal matter on her body spread widely across social media platforms. Wietrzyk issued a sincere apology to those affected while stressing the heavy personal toll caused by the resulting public hostility.

Key points

  • Joanna Wietrzyk admitted that her drive to win clouded her thinking and resulted in the w…: Joanna Wietrzyk admitted that her drive to win clouded her thinking and resulted in the wrong choice.
  • The athlete failed to consider the well-being of the people competing and watching around…: The athlete failed to consider the well-being of the people competing and watching around her during the event.
  • Wietrzyk maintained that she is only human and did not deserve the intense online backlas…: Wietrzyk maintained that she is only human and did not deserve the intense online backlash she received.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Australian Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk says she made the wrong decision when she continued to race after soiling herself during a competition in Beijing.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC, she suggested her determination to win the race in September had clouded her judgement.

Roughly halfway through her event last month, Wietrzyk suffered a bout of diarrhoea and images of faecal matter on parts of her body were widely shared online.

"I didn't really think about those around me… the decision that I made in hindsight was the wrong decision and I'm truly sorry for everyone that I did affect," the athlete told the BBC.

She also talked about the effect of the social media reaction after the incident, saying she should not have received "such backlash", and that she is "only human".

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