Many here know anyone with rhabdo? I read about it regularly in English media but a few friends had never heard of it.
Yes, but there are levels to it. Mild cases were common in old Crossfit, most people just hydrated, and took the week off from training. Some had to go to the hospital for IV replenishment, tests, etc.... There also used to be warnings from Crossfit to watch people doing kips and GHD sit ups, because anecdotally, people would feel it after sessions involving those.
The most common descriptor of mild rhabdo was - "It felt like a bad flu", sometimes with dark urine for a few days.
Crossfit even for a time had "Uncle Pukey" and "Uncle Rhado" mascots, it was almost a badge of honor -

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Edit - An old article Glassman, himself, put out when Crossfit was being blamed for a lot of Rhabdo cases -
https://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/38_05_cf_rhabdo.pdf .