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If you dookey yourself while competing in a sporting event like this woman, should you be allowed to finish, or should you be disqualified immediately?
https://nypost.com/2026/09/14/health/diarrhea-soaked-hyrox-athlete-divides-social-media/
Diarrhea-soaked Hyrox athlete divides internet over whether she should have quit
By McKenzie Beard
Published Sep. 14, 2026, 3:09 p.m. ET
It may be the stinkiest debate of the year.
A Hyrox athlete has divided the internet after losing control of her bowels mid-race and refusing to stop, raising questions about whether she should have hung up her diarrhea-splattered sneakers rather than power through to the finish line.
Joanna Wietrzyk, a 24-year-old Australian, was caught on camera running, rowing and lunging through the Beijing fitness competition over the weekend as fecal matter streamed down her legs — and somehow still managed to clinch first place.
Joanna Wietrzyk of Australia competing in HYROX Beijing 2026 at the National Speed Skating Oval, while a female official watches.
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Athlete Joanna Wietrzyk finished in first place at a Hyrox competition in Beijing over the weekend.
“Honestly. Disqualify her and restart the race. A normal human would stop and not s–t themselves around people. Sorry you are stressed honey, so is everyone else,” one user wrote on X.
“Should be an immediate forfeit. Pretty selfish as others runners had to literally run and slip on her crap,” commented another.
That’s not an exaggeration.
Chinese officials said staff swiftly cordoned off the affected areas, disinfected the site through the end of the day, removed contaminated equipment and arranged to replace the carpet once the event was over, according to the South China Morning Post.
But the cleanup apparently couldn’t keep pace with the mess. Participants and spectators reported that poop was left smeared on equipment and across the track after Wietrzyk suffered a bout of fecal incontinence, causing several athletes to fall.
“It’s a biohazard, how they let the competition go on is beyond me,” one person wrote on Reddit.
“Not only endangered them, but it also just generally affects performance. I’d have trouble bracing me core, looking at a lady dripping s–t everywhere,” chimed in another.
“Losing control of your bowels can happen. Continuing the race while liquid feces run down your legs is another thing entirely. That’s not grit. That’s a hygiene and safety failure,” wrote an X user.
Wietrzyk, for her part, seemed to have no shame about her messy finish — at least at first. “Go hard or go home they say… a win is a win,” she wrote on Instagram, before deleting the post as backlash over her decision to remain in the race reached a fever pitch.
“How could anyone justify this? She should be penalized for her actions rather than celebrating them,” an X user wrote.
“What a s–t show,” quipped another.
The pro-poo crowd: Why some people are rooting Wietrzyk on
For some, Wietrzyk’s victory wasn’t a crappy performance — it was a demonstration of grit.
“You may think you’re a tough athlete or a tough SOB, but are you ‘I s–t myself thru an entire physical competition and still f—–g won’ tough??? Respect to Joanna Wietrzyk for not letting some incontinence slow her down. The Aussies are just born tougher, y’all,” wrote one defender.
“She achieved what she came for and won,” an Instagram user commented. “S–t happens and nothing to look down if it wasn’t intentional. We all are humans after all.”
“Why can’t we just say she s–t her pants, we all do it and move on,” asked another social media user, whose response generated its own side-eyed replies from people questioning their use of “we.”
Hyrox athlete competes despite diarrhea — using shared equipment and horrifying onlookers
Hyrox’s says: ‘Courage, resilience and refusal to give in’
On Monday, Hyrox addressed the incident, issuing a statement about what it described as the “increasingly complex situations” arising at its competitions.
“We ask our athletes to push themselves to the highest levels. At times, they will go beyond what even we thought was possible,” they wrote on Instagram.
“That courage, resilience and refusal to give in are precisely what makes elite athletes so extraordinary. Our role is to give them the right framework and the right boundaries within which they can compete, perform and express themselves at their very best.
“HYROX has clear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place. In this instance, an unforeseen situation arose in which protocols designed for elite competition and mass participation became blurred, creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood.
Images have sparked outrage and disgust from people who described the incident as a threat to public safety.
“We recognize that this can understandably lead to frustration, questions and strong views within our community. Those concerns are legitimate and, as organizers, we must be prepared to hear them, examine what happened and take responsibility for continuing to improve. And we will.”
Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fuerste later commented on the poop-fiasco, admitting the organizers “made a mistake by not reacting immediately during the race.”
He said that the competition has “started improving event processes, plus making rulebook changes immediately.”
“As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again,” Fuerste wrote on Instagram.
Whatever side of the great poop debate you’re on, one thing is hard to dispute: Wietrzyk may have crossed the finish line first, but the internet has already decided on how she’ll be remembered.
“She thinks she’s winning, but the sad reality is that her legacy will forever be that of the pants s–tter rather than the winner,” an X user wrote.
| Poll result (15 votes) | | You should be disqualified, take yo nasty ass to shower |  (11 votes) | Vote | | A win is a win |  (4 votes) | Vote |
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