Spectators who came from all over the world to watch the 2024 CrossFit games filed out of Dickies Arena on Thursday after organizers canceled the day’s events following the drowning of an athlete during an event earlier in the morning.
Fort Worth fire crews recovered the body of Serbian athlete Lazar Đukić, 28, after he drowned during a run-swim event at Marine Creek Lake.
“It just sucks, that’s all I can say,” said a man named Rick from the Netherlands who preferred not to give his last name. He was at the event Thursday morning, but only “saw the aftermath” of Đukić’s drowning.
Video shows Đukić struggling in the water close to the finish line and in sight of organizers and people in the water on paddle boards. It was unclear whether people on paddle boards were lifeguards.
Alberto Saldaña, 35, came to Fort Worth from Querétaro, Mexico, to watch the games.
He also attended the run-swim event, but arrived late, just as organizers were announcing the cancellation of the rest of Thursday’s event.
“It was very sad,” he said, adding that he thought there were too many participants in the event for organizers to keep track of.
“I don’t know if they didn’t have enough staff, or what,” he said.
Saldaña, who has competed in CrossFit events in Mexico, said he does not hold organizers responsible for Đukić’s death.
“Athletes sign a waiver absolves the organization of all responsibility, so you do it at your own risk,” he said.
A CrossFit spokesperson said in an email that the organization is working closely with authorities and providing support to Đukić’s family.
“CrossFit is deeply saddened by the death of a CrossFit Games competitor during the swimming portion of Individual Event 1 at the 2024 CrossFit Games,” the statement said. “The well-being of competitors is our first priority and we are heartbroken by this tragic event.”
Unlike Saldaña, social media users did not hold any punches when finding fault with the popular fitness regimen that was founded in California in 2000.
“Can’t fathom being at this race and witnessing this man gasping for air & his body going missing,” said former NFL linebacker and Barstool Sports host Will Compton on X. “How in the world did nobody working the CrossFit Games not see this man drowning this close to the finish line??? ...”
Texas powerlifter Camden Wilson called CrossFit “despicable” and the drowning “unacceptable.”
“How do you have a water event and not lifeguards everywhere?” he said on X. “Not to mention the blatant stupidity of having a swimming event immediately after a 3.5 mile run. Pure Incompetence.”
Elsewhere on X, users said CrossFit “has blood on [its] hands,” and called for it to be banned.
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