Christina Livaditakis is looking for her first CrossFit Video games qualification.
Final up to date on January sixth, 2025
Zimbabwe’s Christina Livaditakis has been maintaining busy through the offseason.
In October, Livaditakis completed third on the Down Under Championship (DUC) in Wollongong, Australia. Then, in November, she was elected as one of many six athlete board members for the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association (PFAA).
- The Morning Chalk Up sat down with the Zimbabwean to debate dwelling in Australia, competing in Africa, her position on the PFAA Board, and her objectives for the 2025 season.
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Discovering CrossFit
Rising up in Zimbabwe, Livaditakis was an energetic child who loved all sports activities, from water polo to rugby. She first turned all in favour of CrossFit in 2016.
- “I used to be in a fitness center coaching usually, and I used to be bored,” she mentioned. “I’d heard of CrossFit via [a friend who said], ‘All these CrossFitters look jacked.’ I used to be like, oh yeah, that sounds cool; I need to look jacked. I’ll give it a go, after which I fell in love with the game.”
Livaditakis fell in love with the methodology as nicely. She earned her CrossFit L1 and commenced teaching quickly after.
Life as a Zimbabwean Dwelling in Australia and Competing in Africa
In 2018, Livaditakis moved from her residence in Zimbabwe, Africa, to begin a brand new life in Australia.
“As anybody who’s lived [in Africa] would know, it’s nothing like dwelling in a first-world nation,” she mentioned.
- And whereas she says she’ll at all times take into account Zimbabwe her residence, she sought stability and alternatives elsewhere.
Livaditakis has been on the cusp of qualifying for the Video games from the African area for the final three years, however sickness and altitude have hindered her path thus far. The African Semifinal was beforehand held at sea stage in Cape City — nonetheless, extra not too long ago, it’s been held in Johannesburg at 5,000 ft above sea stage.
- “Now I’ve to journey at the least 4 weeks earlier than [the competition],” Livaditakis famous. “So it’s a lot. Particularly taking time without work away from the fitness center and I’ve a full-time job as nicely. That’s exhausting, however I do love going again.”
After dwelling and dealing in Australia for over six years, Livaditakis now has her Australian everlasting residency. For the 2025 CrossFit Video games season, the Torian Professional, the Australian In-Particular person Qualifying Occasion, has waived any residency requirement.
Christina Livaditakis’ Podium End on the Down Underneath Championship
The DUC befell in Wollongong, Australia, October 18-20, and Livaditakis completed third within the Elite Ladies’s division, behind winner Aimee Cringle and runner-up Jessi Smith.
Livaditakis began the competitors in good kind, with a win within the first occasion.
- “I like to compete in Australia,” she mentioned. “I at all times do [DUC] as a result of I can do it right here [in Australia] with everybody, in order that’s good.”
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Maybe occupied with the latest adjustments to the CrossFit Video games season, Livaditakis famous:
- “I really like an in-person competitors. I do manner higher in particular person than I do on-line. I feel I thrive off of the strain of being in particular person.”
The PFAA and Livaditakis’ 2025 CrossFit Season Plans
Livaditakis was approached by the PFAA when the affiliation first launched its election course of.
Upon studying extra in regards to the group and the expectations of the position, Livaditakis agreed to face for election to the Athlete Board. She and 5 others had been elected.
- “The [PFAA] Board makes selections and offers course for the PFAA to help athletes who’re dedicating their lives to this sport. A method we do that’s by partnering with occasion organizers with an total concentrate on the athlete expertise,” Livaditakis instructed us.
Like many different elite CrossFit athletes, Livaditakis has been left feeling pissed off after the announcement of the 2025 CrossFit Video games adjustments.
Nonetheless, she nonetheless plans to compete regardless of the lack of know-how and consistency offered by CrossFit HQ.
- “At this stage, I nonetheless plan to compete; nonetheless, that doesn’t say that I agree with the flip that the 2025 season has taken,” she mentioned. “It nonetheless appears a bit of unknown […] if it will be a greater/worse season construction for the game of CrossFit.”
She went on to say that athletes she speaks with really feel pissed off by a scarcity of consistency within the Video games season construction yr over yr.
- “I feel we merely simply don’t perceive why CrossFit has determined to but once more change the construction of the season,” she mentioned.
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A Perception in CrossFit’s Core Values
Regardless of the adjustments to the game of CrossFit, Livaditakis nonetheless believes within the core values that underpin CrossFit.
- “My livelihood is CrossFit. I run an affiliate, I prepare in CrossFit lessons day by day, I really like my CrossFit neighborhood, and the way CrossFit, the coaching program for common bodily preparedness, has impacted so many lives and other people near me,” she mentioned.
In her view, the methodology, sport, and neighborhood are all interconnected. “I imagine within the methodology…for well being and health,” she mentioned, “so with that, I’ll help my neighborhood by competing within the 2025 season.”
- “With out the neighborhood of CrossFit and the CrossFit associates, there is no such thing as a CrossFit Video games, and I don’t need to see this sport die.”
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