Four years ago The Open debuted and the idea of repeating a qualifying workout was invented there was a ton of pushback. Most athletes felt like repeating the workout was a disservice to the spirit of the competition. That year, when The Open competition was far less stiff than it is now, most regional athletes did not repeat a workout. Most were one and done and many of them trained right through the Open. They treated their attempt at each open workout as if it were a live competition. No redo. No re-testing strategy and trying another one later. One shot. They treated the Open with the same mentality as every other sport in the world. There's no such thing as a redo in real sports. You get one shot and the blessing and curse of athletics is you have to live with the results of that one shot.
However, as the Open has progressed and become more and more competitive, it is almost assumed that most athletes will repeat every workout. I have a huge amount of respect for the athletes in the world who approach each workout with a "one and done mentality" and regardless of their performance post their score and leave it where it sits. They approach each workout with the same mentality they will have at Regionals. They do not get to repeat and try again at Regionals therefore the Open is, for these athletes, Regionals prep.
I struggled with this slide in mentality a couple years ago. I always told my athletes we were a one-shot team. I preached to them that they needed to give it everything they had on the first attempt and let that results speak for itself. I believe they were good enough athletes to get their best effort on the first time and make it to Regionals. I still believe this is true. However, to keep an athlete from repeating a workout now is to put them at a severe disadvantage. 99% of the people they are competing against will repeat the work out at least once. As the Open progresses, likely they will repeat it more than once.
The truth about athletics is that you learn something about yourself and about competition every time you step up to perform. In the Open, with the option of a repeat, you learn something about the workout that you did not know before and are able to adjust accordingly. The blessing and curse of a repeat workout is that you were able to garner your best performance by self-evaluation in your first attempt. Therefore, despite my own reservations toward this mentality, it has become a clear advantage to repeat each workout.
I think this truth has done three things to the sport of CrossFit particularly to the Open.
First, it has taken away the soul and spirit of true athletic competition. No other sport in the world allows for repeats. Rematches sure. However, in that setting your competition also gets a fair shot at a repeat in a head-to-head environment. I don't have to sit at home and wonder what you're going to do or how you are going to modify your workout in order to put up a better score than them. Rematches are very different than repeats. Think about how ridiculous the idea of a repeat would be in any other sport. Take golf for instance. Let's say Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth play each other in a tournament. Jordan wins. Then the next day, with better conditions and a better understanding of the course, Bubba Watson walked out and scored better than Jordan while Jordan sat at home and enjoyed his victory. To give Watson the trophy would be ridiculous. Nobody gets that opportunity. In sport you have to perform when it's time to perform you don't get the option of being conservative or soft in your first attempt because you get the opportunity to come back and do it again whenever you want. It kills your competitive mindset.
Second, it destroys the competitive mindset of a true athlete. If I know I have the option of repeating a workout and I know that I'm going to utilize that advantage every single week then I definitely will approach the first workout with a different mentality. I can be conservative and reserved and not take risks in my first attempt knowing that I will get the opportunity to do that later. This allows me to dull the true competitive spirit of my sport. Some of the best moments in sports history came when an athlete took a risk. If you watched Steph Curry's buzzer beater in overtime against Oklahoma City you know exactly what I'm talking about. What a crazy risk that was. If he had missed that shot from 10 feet behind the three-point line he would've been ridiculed and most would've wondered what he was doing. However he sunk it and for that he was given huge accolades. If Steph knows he has the opportunity to go back and redo that play ten more times if he wanted the I bet he takes a safer, more conservative approach. He could be a lot more selective with his shot choice and maybe even pass the ball to somebody closer to the basket. If it fails, oh well, he can try again. Allowing and endorsing repeat workouts takes away the risky competitive nature of most sports.
Third, I would actually argue that it hurts the athletes chances in live competition. I understand that in online competition like the Open, the opportunity for repeat workouts is a necessity. You just can't mandate and enforce only one attempt. This is partially due to an athlete's desire to perform at their best but also combined with a lot of athlete's integrity in competition. If CrossFit HQ mandated only one attempt, the already rampant cheating would increase drastically. Unfortunately, this puts the athlete in a bad position as they prepare for live competition at Regionals. I think HQ knows this fact. They know that the athlete who is able to perform at their best and be competitive with one attempt will ultimately be the athlete that makes it through Regionals to the CrossFit Games. I tend to agree with that truth. However there are some athletes out there who miss Regionals every year because they are outperformed in repeat workouts. I would love to see the difference in the Regionals roster were it required to qualify at a live event like the Sectionals versus a current Regionals roster with an online competition. Obviously the big names and those that make the CrossFit games would be there regardless but I bet the competition would be more fierce among those who are often cut. That competition would be more fierce simply because the files would be full of staunch competitors not better strategists.
The growth of the sport over the last 10 years has caused this reality. I'm not near creative enough nor smart enough to know the solution. (Though limiting the hours one is able to complete the workout from 96 to 36 is a good start) All I know is the heart and soul of competition happens live, requires risk, gives no opportunity for "redo", and the winner may not be the best athlete but the one who performs best that day. The Regionals and The Games are a shining example of this truth. The Open is an awesome opportunity to compare the fitness level of athletes worldwide however what it gains in statistics, marketability, and mass involvement it loses in the spirit of competition.