Dave Castro says CrossFit ‘fired’ him and departure isn’t mutual, after leaked Eric Roza email confirms Games director’s exit
- Former general manager lavished with praise by CEO but insists he is not leaving voluntarily after 15 years
- Castro replaced by Justin Bergh, who is promoted from vice-president of sport and partnership
Dave Castro has claimed he has been fired by CrossFit, insisting that any suggestion his exit from the company was a mutual decision “couldn’t be further from the truth”.
News of the former CrossFit Games director’s departure came on Wednesday via a leaked internal email, which had circulated in the company on January 4, according to CrossFit blog The Morning Chalk Up.
“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,” CEO Eric Roza wrote in the email.
Castro, who was also CrossFit’s former general manager of sport, created the CrossFit Games in 2007 and organised 15 annual editions of the competition which crowns “The Fittest on Earth”. He was responsible for designing the workouts at each edition, and is the only person to have held the position to date.
Castro will be replaced by Justin Bergh, a long time employee of CrossFit who has been promoted from vice-president of sport and partnership.
Roza’s email was full of praise for Castro and said: “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.”
But Castro quickly took to social media to express his dismay.
“I have talked to Roza once in the last three or so months during his time away,” Castro wrote on Instagram. “He called me tonight to fire me. He told me they had messaging prepared that this was mutual. I asked him not to use that because that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The tweet prompted a backlash on social media and a series of internal leaks, including an audio recording that had Glassman spouting conspiracy theories, while there were also accusations he helped foster a culture of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Together, Castro and Roza started to rebuild trust in the brand, with a headline in an article in Men’s Health in February reading “These Two Men Are on a Mission to Save CrossFit”.
“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,” Roza concluded in his internal email.
