If I could go back in time... and warn myself about what would happen when I lift that barbell...
Would I change anything?
Welcome to the CrossFit Games! The ultimate proving grounds for the fittest athletes on Earth!
The one and only goal of training was to make it to the Games.
-I know his intent was to get there.
-"Kevin Ogar with 255 pounds, now."
I remember Kevin at Regionals that year. He was looking great.
"Kevin Ogar surprised most observers by setting a new world record on Event 2."
"He's beast mode at that point."
"And with this lift, Kevin will win the event."
"A CrossFit athlete injured during a routine move...
"might never walk again."
-"He probably wasn't going to live."
-His spinal cord was severed.
He was not going to walk again.
One of the hardest times for me was when I first got out of the hospital.
A couple days a week I would just be like, "You know what? I'm-I'm not doing anything."
Just laying around.
When I first started trying to sit up, I literally was like one of those weeble-wobble things
that just wanted to fall down at all times.
And what does happen a lot of times is this whole big deep hole with the depression.
His life's going to change, completely.
He needs to speak to guys that are in his same situation, and it needs to happen fast.
The guy that was in rehab with me? Killed himself two years later.
I think mentally I knew that if I didn't have goals, I was going to have a really rough time
recovering from this.
He was going back to CrossFit.
I needed to get back to coaching and training in CrossFit.
His legs aren't what define him. He's still Kevin.
-Why do you want to be on CrossFit staff?
-I've been doing CrossFit for seven years,
it saved my life, it's changed my life.
CrossFit was such a huge part of his life. We all knew that he wanted to share that on a larger level.
Definitely have to practice my coaching.
The red shirts. They are the best trainers in the world.
It's not an easy process. It's pretty ruthless, and you can't mess up.
-It was definitely hard to hear.
-You have to be able to take some intense criticism.
Guys! Welcome to your Level 1 seminar!
Joe didn't pull any punches and just laid it out there like, "This is what you need to do better."
Sometimes I just had a hard time understanding what you were saying.
How can he effectively coach the participants?
Like, how's he going to demo?
It's kind of an unprecedented thing.
No adaptive athlete has made the team. None has even attempted the internship process.
I think we have some things that we need to develop. Definitely don't think that right now he's ready.
The best way to look like a fool is to tell Kevin he can't do something.
Nothing stands in the way of Kevin.
If he wants to do something, he does it.
Kevin usually just doesn't give up.
Last time I did this a person was like, "You can't do that!"
What are you going to do? Pull me back up?
Guess that's just my whole personality:
"You can't do that!"
Well, I'm gonna.
We're going to see what happens.
