{"id":30775,"date":"2024-08-11T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=30775"},"modified":"2024-08-11T21:36:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T02:36:41","slug":"crossfit-games-athlete-dies-during-competition-at-texas-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=30775","title":{"rendered":"CrossFit Games athlete dies during competition at Texas lake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An athlete died Thursday during a swimming competition in a Texas lake on the first day of CrossFit Games \u2013 a multiday event that attracts global athletes widely regarded as being among the fittest people in the world.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The athlete was Serbia native Lazar Dukic, 28, according to records from the Tarrant County medical examiner\u2019s office. A cause of death was not listed as of Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police stationed at the event in Fort Worth received a call just before 7 a.m. about a competitor who \u201cwas last seen in the water and \u2026 did not resurface,\u201d and that person eventually was pronounced dead at the scene, Fort Worth police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur hearts are with Lazar\u2019s entire family, friends, and fellow athletes,\u201d CrossFit Games said on X<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 800-meter swimming portion of Thursday morning\u2019s event was held at Marine Creek Lake, after athletes competed in a 3.5-mile run, according to CrossFit. The remaining events scheduled for Thursday were canceled, its organizers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement released Friday, CrossFit CEO Don Faul said following conversations with Dukic\u2019s family and other athletes, it was decided the CrossFit Games would continue as scheduled. The event will now be dedicated to Dukic\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CrossFit Games is a four-day event\u2002<\/u><\/a>that attracts athletes from all over the world, and widely regarded as an ultimate test of physical capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a news conference Thursday, Faul said he feels \u201cgutted\u201d by the tragedy and said the fitness company is \u201cdoing everything in our power during this tragic time to support the family, to support our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExtensive planning\u201d is involved with every CrossFit Games competition, including a documented safety plan with personnel on-site throughout the event, Faul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Faul\u2019s Friday statement, he said the company has begun an investigation that will \u201cinclude an independent third-party review\u201d of the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Athlete known for \u2018kindness, humor, supportive nature\u2019<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dukic was pronounced dead at 10:24 a.m., according to the medical examiner\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident is being investigated and homicide detectives have been notified about the case, police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CrossFit said Thursday it was \u201cfully cooperating with authorities and doing everything we can to support the family at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fort Worth Fire Department came to the site after the 911 call strictly as a \u201csearch and rescue-type resource,\u201d department spokesperson Craig Trojacek said at the news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had our dive teams come out, we had our arson investigators come out with their drones, trying to help locate the missing person,\u201d Trojacek said. \u201cWe were ultimately able to bring that body out of the water just a little over an hour from when we put our first diver in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A police homicide unit came to the scene after the athlete\u2019s body was recovered, Fort Worth police Sgt. Lee Wagner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been a terrible day for everybody who has participated in these events, and it breaks our hearts to see everyone mourning for what happened today,\u201d Wagner said at the news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FITAID performance energy drink brand said in a Facebook post<\/u><\/a> Dukic was a \u201cbeloved member of our team and has been like family over these years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur hearts are broken,\u201d the post reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A GoFundMe fundraiser<\/u><\/a> was organized by FITAID for Dukic\u2019s family. The athlete was \u201cknown for his kindness, humor, and supportive nature,\u201d the GoFundMe page reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter years of passionately playing water polo in his home country Serbia, his debut at the 2021 CrossFit Games highlighted the start of a remarkable career. He shared a special bond with his brother Luka, introducing him to CrossFit and guiding him along the way,\u201d reads the statement on the fundraiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cole Learn, a CrossFit Games athlete who witnessed the incident, told CNN affiliate WFAA\u2002<\/u><\/a>he was \u201cabsolutely devastated\u201d by Dukic\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot sure what to think \u2013 almost in denial,\u201d Learn, of Ontario, Canada, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn said he has broken down in tears, in shock about his fellow athlete\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw him sort of start to scramble (in the water),\u201d Learn told WFAA. \u201cHe started doing small turns and he was trying to get his head out of the water. It was at that time we started screaming to the lifeguard he needed help and within seconds, he was under and he never came back up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn told WFAA that watching Dukic\u2019s brother, who was also competing in CrossFit Games, \u201crun up and down the sidelines looking for him is something I\u2019ll carry with me for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cnn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An athlete died Thursday during a swimming competition in a Texas lake on the first day of CrossFit Games \u2013 a multiday event that attracts global athletes widely regarded as being among the fittest people in the world. The athlete was Serbia native Lazar Dukic, 28, according to records from the Tarrant County medical examiner\u2019s office. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5782],"tags":[5171,30007,1247,1937,30020],"class_list":["post-30775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ep","tag-athletes","tag-crossfit","tag-death","tag-game","tag-texas-lake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30777,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30775\/revisions\/30777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}