by John Mariotti, August 11, 2024
Someone asked recently if I write these things on Sunday morning. The answer is no, but I do write them in the week before the Sunday when you receive them.
Today is Thursday, the 8th of August. My heart is heavy as I type these words. The CrossFit Games opened this morning with a 1.5-mile run followed by an 800-meter swim in a lake in Fort Worth. An athlete, Lazar Dukic, did not get it out of the water. Yes, you read that correctly. About 100 meters from the finish line something happened, and Lazar drowned. We don’t know what transpired and will not speculate here. Nor will we speculate on any failures of safety protocols or individual responsibility.
At this writing, we don’t know what is going to happen with the rest of the events scheduled for the Games. The bottom line is that this is a tragedy. No one enters a competition thinking their life is on the line. I know I don’t. Yet we are all given a finite amount of time on this planet.
We talk a lot about community at CrossFit. We have our community here at Odyssey. We love and cherish each and every one of you. We want you to succeed on your Journey to Extraordinary. All of us are also part of the worldwide CrossFit community. We are all athletes. Today one of us is no longer here. It is heart-wrenching
. We will grieve and honor Lazar as best we know how.
All that being said, our hearts are with the Dukic family. There is a fund started to support them. I don’t have the link but I understand FitAid started it.