Team Invictus Hearing They Made the Finals of the 2012 CrossFit Games

Team Invictus Hearing They Made the Finals of the 2012 CrossFit Games
Written by C.J. Martin

The video above shows how Team Invictus learned they had made it to the finals of the 2012 CrossFit Games. We went into Saturday’s final event in 7th place, but our placement was never discussed prior to the event. Each team member knew they needed to give full effort, communicate well and support their teammates – the exact same marching orders given for every event.

Nuno stormed out of the gates, and Justin followed right behind him. Justin had mentioned during warm-ups that he felt dehydrated, and shortly into the workout it was clear that he was not doing well. Despite suffering from nasty effects of heat exhaustion, Justin kept himself moving – with a lot of support and cheering from his teammates. Behind him, Shane, Ayo, Katie and Nichole knew what was needed. They stepped up to each station with some of the most incredible performances of their lives – most of them completing each of the 30 rep stations without breaking. Ayo even mustered a PR for consecutive pull-ups, despite it being the last station of a brutal event.

Immediately after the event Justin was taken into medical for severe heat exhaustion and dehydration. The rest of the team went with him – Nichole for treatment on an injured wrist, and the rest because they weren’t going to leave their teammates’ side. Sitting in medical, competing on Sunday was the last thing on their minds. I don’t believe any of them had even thought about the rankings at that point, and if they had, I don’t believe any thought they had moved into the top 6.

The video shows a snippet of the reaction and the emotions of our team. It doesn’t capture the months of hard work and ups and downs they faced together, but I hope their genuine care, support and respect for each other comes through in their reaction.

Invictus has finished in the top 5 three of the last four years (15th in 2011), but this year was easily the most successful. Each team member understood that their success would not be defined by the leader board, but rather their effort and support of each other. Mission accomplished.