Schooling the Press

Throw any question at him—from his strategy on how he will approach the CrossFit Games to his views on diet and sex—and Matt Chan doesn’t shy away. He also might just own you.

At 35, Chan was the oldest individual male competitor at this year’s Games. Accordingly, he said his plan during the multi-day competition was to focus on recovery. Exactly what did that involve?

“Thumbs in my butt,” said Chan, who placed second at the 2012 Games, responding to a question posed at a press conference on Thurs., July 25, after the first day of competition.

Chan, who made his sixth consecutive individual Games appearance and tied Chris Spealler’s record, also said he abstains from sexual relations with his wife during competition.

“From what I understand,” Chan began as the room erupted in laughter, “there’s something called ‘chi.’ You can’t give it away to everybody every day or else you lose your chi and all of a sudden everything falls apart. … I hold on to my chi until the Games are over.”

Chan finished 21st at the Games, which concluded on July 28.

Video by Jordan Gravatt.

4min 4sec

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Additional reading: Losing Control, Winning a Medal by Andréa Maria Cecil, published Aug. 10, 2012.