2011 CrossFit Games

2011 CrossFit Games
Venue	Home Depot Center
Location	Carson, California
Dates	July 29–31, 2011
Champions
Men	Rich Froning Jr.
Women	Annie Thorisdottir
Team	CrossFit New England
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The 2011 CrossFit Games were a sporting event, the fifth CrossFit Games, held on July 29–31, 2011, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.^[1] The winners of the Games were Rich Froning for the men's competition and Annie Thorisdottir for the women, who were both runners-up the previous year.^[2] CrossFit New England won the team competition.^[3]

2011 marked the first year the "CrossFit Open" was used as the first part of a two-stage qualification process for the CrossFit Games. Online submissions of workout results were invited from competitors worldwide, and over 26,000 participated. Athletes were then selected to compete in the Regionals, and those who qualified then proceeded to the CrossFit Games. There were 10 events in the Games, including the first swim event which was held outside the main venue for the first time. Also starting this season, the Games settled on a scoring system of 100 points for the winner of an event, with decreasing number of points for lower-placed athletes, and the one with the most points at the end of the competition would be the champion.^[4]

CrossFit started a 10-year, $150 million, sponsorship and partnership deal with Reebok in 2011, and the prize money for the male and female individual winners of the Games increased substantially to $250,000 this year.^[5] The 2011 Games were also the first to be covered by ESPN, with live coverage streamed through ESPN3 as well as late shows on ESPN2, and the exposure further increased the popularity of subsequent Games.^[6]