DALLAS (AP) — The CrossFit Games resumed Friday, one day after the Lazar Dukic has died after he went underwater during a swimming competition in a Texas lake and did not resurface.
In a post on social media platform X, CrossFit Games officials said they and the entire CrossFit community were “shaken” and that although their first instinct was to “shut down,” “isolate” and “grieve,” they decided that “the best way to grieve is to grieve together.”
After the rest of Thursday’s events were cancelled, competition resumed with a minute’s silence and the announcement that this year’s Games, which run through Sunday, would be dedicated to Dukic. Many of the athletes who turned out for the ceremony were in tears.
Here’s what you should know about the tragedy and the CrossFit Games:
Who was Lazar Dukic?
Dukic was a 28-year-old competitor from Serbia. The CrossFit Games said in their post on X that he was not only “one of the most talented competitors in our sport,” but also “a son, a brother and a friend to virtually everyone who knew him.” They called Dukic “extremely competitive, incurably cheerful and unusually kind.”
According to Dukic’s bio on the CrossFit website, he was the third-best CrossFit athlete in Serbia and ranked 88th in the world, finishing ninth in his Games debut in 2021, eighth the next season, and ninth in 2023.
Dukic, who also played water polo, was an athlete ambassador for FITAID, a sports drink brand, said Gijs Spaans, general manager of FITAID in Europe. Spaans said Dukic was a driven athlete and “just a really, really good guy,” the kind of person who “lights up the room.”
How did Dukic die?
Fort Worth police said officers responding to the event were told an attendee was missing after he was last seen in the water and did not resurface. Firefighters were called to help around 8 a.m., and their dive team recovered Dukic’s body from Marine Creek Lake shortly after 10 a.m.
The Tarrant County Coroner has not yet released Dukic’s cause of death.
Before the 800-meter swim (0.5 miles), participants took part in a 3.5-mile run (5.6 kilometers).
Kaitlin Pritchard, a viewer, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she was at the finish line in the swimming competition when she saw Dukic approaching. She said he was one of the swimmers she noticed changing their swimming pattern, which she thought might be because they were tired from running.
Pritchard saw people on stand-up paddleboards on the lake who she assumed were lifeguards, but did not notice any of them jumping in to try to save anyone, she said.
What safety precautions have been taken?
CrossFit CEO Don Faul said in a statement to the Associated Press on Friday that safety was “of the utmost importance” and officials had implemented “strict protocols for every event at the CrossFit Games.” He added that the organization had launched an investigation into Dukic’s death that will include an “independent third-party review.”
Faul had said at a press conference the day before that security personnel would be on site at the swim event, but did not provide further details. CrossFit did not immediately respond to a request for details on its security plan.
What is CrossFit?
CrossFit was founded over 20 years ago in a garage gym in Santa Cruz, California.
The website says it is a fitness program that includes workouts with “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movements.” CrossFit announced Friday that it has over 12,000 affiliated gyms in nearly 150 countries.
CrossFit’s popularity is due to the bonding atmosphere created by the high-intensity workouts, says Darin White, executive director of the Center for Sports Analytics at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
“It’s very community-oriented, you’re part of the gym, you’re part of this community and you encourage each other,” White said.
Training activities included everything from weight lifting and gymnastics to running, swimming and boating, White said.
What are the CrossFit Games?
The mission of the games, which first took place in 2007, is to “find the fittest athletes in the world,” according to the CrossFit website. The games change every year, and often details aren’t announced until shortly beforehand. Participants come from all over the world.
The city of Fort Worth’s website states that 10,000 people are expected to attend this year’s games.
White said ESPN’s broadcast of the CrossFit Games in recent years has helped the games become more popular around the world. He said the games are similar to a decathlon, except there are a dozen or more individual events and athletes sometimes don’t find out what event they’ll be competing in next until minutes before it starts.
CrossFit said more than 343,000 competitors from around the world took part in this year’s CrossFit Open, the first phase of the competitive season that culminates at the Games with the crowning of champions.
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Miller reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix and AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed.
