The CrossFit Games no one planned for.
In light of Thursday’s tragic death of Lazar Dukic in the opening event of the CrossFit Games, I am not writing any sort of celebratory piece about this year’s CrossFit Games.
I’ve spent way too much time watching videos and reading posts and comments on Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit. I’ve seen videos where athletes and coaches shared about the Thursday afternoon meeting with Games organizer Dave Castro, their frustration around how the events continued Friday without any changes, as if they hadn’t had that meeting at all. I saw the announcements trickle in from different athletes, as some withdrew right away, while others pushed through another workout or two only to withdraw later. I’ve heard one too many times how everyone grieves differently and for some people continuing to compete is their way of honoring Dukic.
I don’t think there’s anything that CrossFit could have done in the aftermath that would have pleased everyone. No apologies, no words, no silent tributes, no actions will bring Dukic back. As a Christian, I’m frustrated by how so many Christian athletes jumped straight to spiritual platitudes and “he’s in a better place” — the sort of thing you say about a terminally ill patient who’s died, not a young man in the prime of his life. Unfortunately, it seems like every single CrossFit athlete felt the need to add their two cents on social media, regardless of how close they were to Dukic, and that leads to a lot of empty words. Silence is often the better option.
Open water swimming events, whether at CrossFit, the Paris Olympics, or triathlons, come under a lot of scrutiny because they are dangerous and things can easily go wrong. There remain many unanswered questions about Thursday’s swim and the apparent lack of safety protocols. It’s clear so far that the two supposed lifeguards, who were on paddleboards nearish to where Dukic was, were neither attentive enough nor equipped to perform an open water rescue. The fact that event organizers didn’t have paramedics on site for the whole event raises more flags.
We don’t know what exactly caused Dukic’s struggle in the water. It could have been heat-related — some have reported that the water that day was about 88 degrees Fahrenheit, so it provided no relief to already hot, sweaty athletes who’d just finished a 3.5-mile run under the Texas sun. In a YouTube video* with her coach, Italian athlete Elisa Fuliano shared about having a panic attack mid-swim. On Instagram, Guilherme Malheiros from Brazil said he couldn’t tell how far he had to go and was nervous about how long the swim was. He slowed down early and followed other athletes’ arms that he could see popping out of the water. Athletes who participated in previous CrossFit Games run swim events reported experiencing cramping in the water that they had never experienced in training. According to his coach, Matt Fraser almost drowned during the swim in the 2017 Games.
We don’t know what the case was for Dukic. If he was cramping or hot or experiencing a panic attack or something else. But honestly, the reason he started struggling doesn’t matter. What matters is that no one helped him.
The lifeguards (or whoever they were) on the paddleboards didn’t notice him flailing. Even if they had, what could they have done? They were too far away and didn’t even have a rescue tube to throw to him. But the fault doesn’t rest fully on those lifeguards. I’d blame whoever decided to put only two of them in the water.
CrossFit did not plan for a water rescue. This is obvious. They were not equipped to help any struggling athletes in the water. They bet on all Games athletes from around the world being able to get through an 800-meter swim after pounding the pavement in Texas heat at the height of summer.
They bet wrong. And Lazar Dukic paid the ultimate price.
*The video is here. Turn on English subtitles.