On Thursday, 28-year-old Serbian athlete Lazar Đukić was found dead in a Texas lake after going missing in the middle of a swimming event during the CrossFit Games.
The CrossFit Games, an international competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, that draws hundreds of thousands of athletes, kicked off its finals on Thursday. Đukić’s event involved a 3.5-mile run followed by an 800-meter swimming race in Marine Creek Lake. The events were being streamed online, and videos circulating on social media appear to show Đukić struggling to swim near the finish line.
Around 8 a.m., per a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, search-and-rescue crews were called when Đukić “hadn’t been seen” in some time. After searching the water with dive teams and drones for about an hour, emergency crews recovered his body and declared him dead at the scene. His cause of death has not been determined.
During a news conference on Thursday, CrossFit’s chief executive, Don Faul, said that “CrossFit is deeply saddened by the death of one of our athletes,” adding that the rest of the events on Thursday were canceled. (CrossFit released a similar statement on X.) But the organization decided to press on with the rest of the weekend’s finals, starting with a special tribute to Đukić on Friday morning. “After careful thought and many conversations internally, with athletes, and with Lazar Đukić’s family, it’s been decided that the CrossFit Games will continue throughout the remainder of the weekend at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas,” CrossFit reps told news outlets in a statement.
The incident — and the decision to continue the competition — has prompted backlash from people accusing CrossFit’s officials of negligence and insensitivity. Some have questioned why swimming wasn’t scheduled before the race’s running leg to minimize exhaustion (as is usually the case in triathlons), while others wondered why apparent safety officials on a paddleboard near Đukić didn’t appear to intervene
At Friday’s livestreamed tribute to Đukić, CrossFit set aside a moment of silence for the Serbian athlete before dedicating the 2024 games to his memory. His brother Luka, who was competing alongside him at the CrossFit Games, stood with the other athletes.
