Australian Hyrox athlete who raced with diarrhoea says online abuse went too far, nearly made her quit

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Australian Hyrox athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has said that she considered quitting the sport after facing widespread online abuse over an incident in which she soiled herself but continued competing during a race in Beijing last month.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC ahead of her return to competition in Hamburg, Germany, today, the world record holder described the past several weeks as a “mentally and emotionally taxing period”, revealing that even her family had received threats.

Wietrzyk said she had withdrawn from social media and tried to isolate herself following the backlash, which began after images of her competing with faecal matter on her body circulated widely online.

“Yes, I did make the wrong decision but I don’t believe I should have received such backlash and such scrutiny online… At the end of the day I’m only human,” she told the BBC.

The controversy began during a Hyrox event in Beijing on September 12, when Wietrzyk suffered a sudden bout of diarrhoea, which she attributed to a bacterial infection caused by food poisoning.

Despite the incident, she continued racing and crossed the finish line first, drawing criticism over the potential hygiene risks to other participants using shared equipment.

She subsequently apologised, forfeited her victory and withdrew retrospectively from the race, while Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste acknowledged that organisers should have intervened.

The competition has since introduced rules allowing race directors to remove athletes whose vomit, urine or faeces pose contamination or welfare risks.

Reflecting on her decision to continue racing, Wietrzyk said her competitive instincts had taken over and that she had failed to consider how her actions might affect others.

She also expressed regret over her initial response on social media, where she had defended her performance in a now-deleted post.

Now preparing for her first competition since the incident, Wietrzyk said she was nervous about returning but remained determined to continue her sporting career.

“I don’t want it to become my identity,” she said, adding that she believed she still had much more to achieve in Hyrox.

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吉隆坡，10 月 30 日——澳大利亚 Hyrox 运动员 Joanna Wietrzyk 表示，上个月在北京的一场比赛中，她因弄脏自己而遭到广泛的网络辱骂，但她仍然继续参赛，她曾考虑过退出这项运动。

在今天重返德国汉堡参加比赛之前，这位世界纪录保持者在接受 BBC 独家采访时，将过去几周描述为“精神和情感上都非常疲惫的时期”，并透露甚至她的家人也受到了威胁。

维特里克表示，在遭到强烈反对后，她退出了社交媒体，并试图将自己隔离起来。此前，她身上沾满粪便的照片在网上广泛传播，引发了舆论反弹。

“是的，我的确做出了错误的决定，但我认为我不应该受到如此强烈的反弹和网络上的如此严格审查……归根结底，我只是个普通人，”她告诉BBC。

这场争议始于 9 月 12 日在北京举行的 Hyrox 活动期间，当时 Wietrzyk 突然腹泻，她将其归咎于食物中毒引起的细菌感染。

尽管发生了这起事件，她还是继续比赛，并第一个冲过终点线，这引发了人们对使用共享设备可能给其他参赛者带来卫生风险的批评。

随后她道歉，放弃了胜利，并追溯性地退出了比赛，而Hyrox联合创始人莫里茨·弗斯特承认，组织者本应介入此事。

该赛事此后出台了相关规则，允许赛事主管将呕吐物、尿液或粪便造成污染或福利风险的运动员移除出赛场。

回想起自己继续参赛的决定，维特里克表示，她的竞争本能占据了上风，她没有考虑到自己的行为可能会对他人造成怎样的影响。

她还对自己在社交媒体上的最初回应表示后悔，她曾在一条现已删除的帖子中为自己的表现辩护。

维特里克表示，她即将迎来自事故发生以来的首场比赛，她对此感到紧张，但仍然决心继续自己的体育生涯。

“我不想让它成为我的身份，”她说，并补充说她相信自己在Hyrox还有很多事情要做。

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