View From The Edge | CrossFit Games 2020: Mat Fraser will continue to dominate ‘Fittest on Earth’ until athletes stop putting him on a pedestal
- All the questions are about how to beat Mat Fraser when they should be about becoming the ‘Fittest on Earth’, irrespective of the five-time champion’s presence
- Mat Fraser has become a myth as much as a man, which gives him the advantage before he even starts competing
His lead was unassailable by the end of day two. With three events to go, the only thing left for the others was second place. And it is not surprising – their mental approach to beating Fraser means that they all start with a 100-point deficit.
In the press conference before the Games, last year’s runner-up Noah Ohlsen joked he had tried to beat Fraser on six occasions and this could be the year he turns it around. Medeiros said in a YouTube video that the way to beat Fraser was to go “really, really hard” and “really, really fast”.
Putting the emphasis on going one better than Fraser, rather than on winning the Games whether Fraser is there or not, builds a mental wall that is impossible to surmount. Everyone ended up competing against the myth, not the man.
When Medeiros said, “He’s human, I think we’ve seen that he’s beatable”, he ironically empowered the myth. If he’s really beatable, it isn’t worth saying. At least Medeiros went out and was the only one who seemed to be intent on taking it to the champ.