Wilfredo Rios: Olympian, Father, CrossFit Athlete

Wilfredo Rios started his journey as a runner early in life. And he was good at it. He was an Oklahoma high school state champion, a collegiate runner, and even an Olympian.

Rios participated in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, representing Puerto Rico. “It allowed me — as a long-distance runner — to spend time by myself, to enjoy nature, to enjoy being out in the wide open, and it taught me to be independent and do my own work if I want to be successful,” Rios says.

But once he decided to pursue law school in the ’80s, he traded in his running shoes for textbooks and roast beef sandwiches. “I went from 127 lb, which was my racing weight, to 188 lb,” he says. … “I started working as an attorney and I didn’t change any of those bad habits so the weight just kept going up.”

The life of an attorney didn’t allow for much outside of work and family.

After his wife and kids started CrossFit, Rios finally decided to give it a try at Koda CrossFit Iron View in Lafayette, Colorado. “I thought it’d be nice to spend some time with them and they want me to live longer, so they told me I should try it and I did,” he says.

Rios, now 74, says he gets the same high from CrossFit that he did as a runner, and the camaraderie and support he receives from his affiliate is why he keeps coming back. Rios is proud to call himself a CrossFit athlete.