Aussie HYROX athlete apologises after soiling herself during competition that sparked uproar around the world - as she reveals she's forfeited her win

Australian HYROX athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has issued a public apology following her win in an endurance event in Beijing – after she soiled herself during the race.

The 24-year-old, from Melbourne, refused to drop out of the event despite streams of faeces running down her legs as she powered to victory during the gruelling competition last Saturday.

Wietrzyk's decision to push on sparked ferocious criticism of the organisers for allowing the her to continue competing.

The Australian athlete issued a statement today apologising to other competitors and revealing she had forfeited her win at the event.

She wrote on Instagram: 'I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers for what happened during the race in Beijing.

'I felt completely fit and healthy at the start of the race, with no reason to expect any illness. 

'Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. I recognize that I should have made a different choice. 

'I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused.'

Wietrzyk said she'd reflected on the incident and was 'genuinely sorry to everyone who was affected'.

'I am learning from this experience and will carry those lessons with me, including remembering that there is more to life than racing and knowing when it is right to step away,' she wrote.

'On reflection, I have decided to retroactively withdraw from the race and forfeit the points I earned.'

The Melbourne athlete then thanked those who supported her during the days of backlash following the event. 

'Thank you to those standing by me, both as an athlete and as a person, during this time, and to everyone who has reached out with kindness and support,' Wietrzyk wrote.

'It means more to me than I can properly express right now. I will be taking some time to recover, reflect and look after myself and my family away from the noise.'

Daily Mail previously revealed major sponsor Puma had distanced itself from the athlete by scrubbing references to her from its various country websites. 

The incident on Saturday also prompted HYROX co-founder Moritz Fürste to issue a personal statement pledging to implement immediate rule changes.

Prior to the weekend's incident, official event rules punished athletes for minor infringements such as littering on the course or clearing their nose on the floor, but here were no rules relating to faecal matter.

Wietrzyk's statement drew hundreds of comments within minutes of being uploaded.

Commenters were deeply divided on whether the apology was sincere or the result of public pressure.

'This apology is just not good enough, not least because it has come far too late ... Truly terrible sportsmanship putting your fellow athletes health at serious risk, never mind the spectators and volunteers,' one wrote.

'Hindsight is a wonderful thing but during that moment and time nobody knows exactly how they would have reacted,' another said.

'A real person would've apologised the same day. Not after almost a week later,' another wrote. 

'True actions of a fighter, not many people understand the mindset of the best in the world,' another said.

Wietrzyk turned off comments under the statement, and her other posts, within an hour of sharing it. 

The Melbourne athlete had initially shared a post following her accident declaring 'a win is a win' but later removed it and refused to publicly comment on the situation.

Her coach, Chris Bayens, shared a statement on Monday calling out 'hatred and personal attacks' on Wietrzyk.

'The mental health of athletes is shaped far more by the community around them, and right now that community should take a hard look at itself,' Bayens wrote.

'No one is perfect, not in sport, not on social media, not in real life. What happened was extraordinary. The hatred that has followed is ugly.'

Bayens vowed to continue supporting her and stressed that no one was prepared for what happened and that the decision to continue was made on the fly. 

'Decisions were made under competition conditions by an athlete, judges and officials, all responding to a situation none of them could reasonably have prepared for,' he said.

'It is very easy to construct the perfect response once the moment has passed. Hindsight gives people time, information and distance that simply did not exist for those actually living it.

'Those decisions can be reviewed and lessons can be taken from them. But judging someone's intent, character or morality through the clarity of hindsight is neither fair nor honest.'

Bayens followed the statement with a more comical take on the situation on Wednesday, writing: 'I had a few things on my Bingo card for the 26-27 HYROX season. 

This was absolutely not one of them. I was hoping for a slightly smoother start.'

- READ MORE: Aussie HYROX athlete is suddenly deleted from sponsor Puma's global website