There’s a long history of athletes pooing themselves mid-race – why, and how can you avoid it?

Joanna Wietrzyk’s unfortunate case of runner’s diarrhoea at the Hyrox games in Beijing is far more common than many people realise. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

Soiling yourself in public sounds like a bad dream. But the Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has now apologised for doing just that at the Hyrox games in Beijing on Saturday.

Wietrzyk won the fitness race but not before using communal equipment with faecal matter visibly running down her legs – and muddying Hyrox’s reputation.