Lazar Dukic, the athlete drowns during a test in the lake at the CrossFit Games. Doubts about safety: “No one noticed”. And the Italian withdraws

While the 2024 Olympic Games were taking place in Paris, other “Olympics”, perhaps less followed but equally well-known in the world of CrossFit, were being held in Texas. It is about the CrossFitGamesorganized by CrossFit Inc, the American company that “invented” the discipline now followed all over the world. A competition that was however interrupted (even if only briefly) from a serious, indeed very serious, event: one of the athletes in the race, Lazar dukea 28-year-old Serbian, floundered during a race, swimming in Marine Creek Lake, and died. The tragedy occurred last Thursday but the contours of the story are not so clear.

The videowhich quickly went viral on social media, shows Dukic starting to to flounder a few meters from the finish line. Around him are tall athletes who are crossing the lake, an 800-meter open water swimming test done after a cross-country race, and some employees at the safety on a paddle. However, no one seems to notice that athlete who is clearly drowning, until, at a certain point, Dukic is swallowed by the water. Rescuers will recover his body, fished lifeless from the bottom of the lake, only hours later. But what happened? Why did no one intervene? This is what the CrossFit community, shocked by this tragedy, is now wondering.

Serbian athlete Lazar Dukic, 28 years old, disappeared in water moments before crossing the goal line during the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, Texas.

Dukic’s body was hatched until later in life. pic.twitter.com/KznUo7aIlR

— Casos Oscuros (@casos_oscuros) August 9, 2024

The tragedy however, despite the opposition of some athletes, including the only Italian in the race, Elisa Fulianowho decided to withdraw from the race, was not enough to stop the competition which continued in the following days. The Serbian athlete was only given a short commemoration ceremony and nothing more. In short, “the show must go on”but to what extent?

As the newspaper also reports, Republicthe only Italian athlete in the competition, 28-year-old Elisa Fuliano, accompanied to the USA by her coach, Matthew Lambsshe decided to abandon the games. “After this death I was not able to compete”, she says, explaining that she tried to continue but was unable to. She also had a moment in which she found herself alone: ​​”After two hundred meters, I had this mini panic attack in the lake, I found from alone at a time when I needed assistance,” he says. But it is coach Agnelli who points the finger at the organization: “I owe a lot to this sport, but I am disappointed by how CrossFit as an organization has handled this thing.” In short, Agnelli also underlines, as reported Republic“it all seemed like a big show, the cameras were focused on who would arrive first. They had a boy drowning in front of their eyes and they didn’t notice. This creates anger.”

Yet someone saw. At least according to the reconstruction of another coach present at the match, David Shorunkecoach of the Swedish Emma Tall who told of two spectators who saw “an athlete go under water near the last orange buoy” and who screamed for help. The two also “tried to go in but were stopped by a lifeguard.” The hope, Shorunke says in a long post on social media, is that the incident will be fully investigated, trying to understand why one of the “best runners and swimmers” drowned 30 meters from the finish line” in front of the eyes of lifeguards, medical personnel and spectators.

Approximately 100 people participated in the competition. 80 athletes. And if on the one hand some have decided to retire after what happened, like the Italian Fiulani, others have decided to continue competing. Yes, because instead of suspending the competition, the organizing company has decided to continue.

In the meantime, while we wait to understand exactly what happened, the company said it is conducting an internal investigation. However, no conclusion will be able to bring the young athlete back to life or ease the pain and anger over Lazar’s disappearance.