CrossFit is ‘notorious’ for pushing boundaries. Is it responsible for swimmer’s death?
CrossFit’s culture of pushing participants to their limits and a slow emergency response may have played a role in the drowning death of Lazar Đukić on Thursday morning, according to kinesiology, legal and emergency response experts.
CrossFit “can be a wonderful sport, as all sports can be, but it can also be particularly dangerous due to the culture that surrounds it,” said Cindy Trowbridge, an associate professor of kinesiology at UT Arlington.
CrossFit was founded in Santa Cruz, California, by gymnast and former celebrity fitness trainer Greg Glassman in 2000, according to Fitness Advisory. It has become popular across the globe, with thousands of gyms — or “boxes,” as they are called in the community — all over the world.
Trowbridge called CrossFit “notorious” for its high-intensity style of workouts that encourage exercisers to push the limits of their capabilities. This culture is evident in CrossFit’s lingo, with acronyms such as AMRAP, or As Many Reps As Possible; DU, or Double Under, meaning the jump rope should pass twice on each jump; and Rx’d, which means performing an exercise “as prescribed,” or without modifications.
“There’s some pretty significant concerns with … the way athletes push themselves,” Trowbridge said.
Nathan Baez, a coach at CrossFit L3, a box in Fort Worth, said he makes sure not to push his clients beyond what he knows is safe for them.
“We’re not going to go to zero to 100,” he said. “We kind of like crawl before we walk before we run.”
CrossFit CEO Don Faul told the Star-Telegram in an emailed statement the “safety of our community is of paramount concern to CrossFit,” and that the organization has begun an investigation into the drowning.
Is caffeine a problem in CrossFit?
Athletes’ tendency to use high amounts of caffeine and other stimulants in energy drinks like Red Bull is another area of concern for Trowbridge.
“These individuals are consuming probably 20 times to 30 times the amount of caffeine anybody should take in … when they consume more than one [energy drink],” she said, adding that athletes may not consume sufficient water and food when they do so.
It was unclear whether Đukić had consumed energy drinks before event on Thursday, which consisted of a 3.5-mile run followed by an 800-meter swim.
But caffeine could have been one part of what Trowbridge called a “triple threat” for an athlete’s heart: “You’re working out, you’re in the heat, and then you’re taking a stimulant.”
This combination has killed athletes in the past, she said.
“Your heart is under attack,” she said. “Your heart rate and blood pressure are all elevated because of the exercise, because of the heat, you want to try to cool your body, and then the caffeine is causing an elevation,” she said.
To hear athletes and practitioners tell it, energy drinks may be going out of fashion, but caffeine is still used widely to power workouts. The Star-Telegram spoke to several CrossFit Games attendees and competitors outside Dickies Arena on Friday. All said they used caffeine, from coffee to supplements to energy drinks.
South African athlete Lani Venter said she used to drink at least one energy drink every day, but recently cut back to two to four a month after realizing how they elevated her heart rate and disturbed her sleep cycle.
Natalie Rixon, who owns and operates a box in Melbourne, Australia, said her clients drink a pre-workout supplement shake called True Protein, which contains 100 to 200 milligrams of caffeine per serving. She also said her refrigerator is usually stocked with an energy drink called C4 Energy.
Baez, in Fort Worth, couldn’t speak for his clients, but said he himself drinks energy drinks before workouts.
The Texas heat may have been a significantly strong part of this threat for Đukić, who was from Serbia, where average temperature in August is 85 F.
Acclimatization to the extreme heat of a Texas summer can take anywhere from three to 14 days, Trowbridge said. It was unclear when Đukić arrived in Fort Worth.
Injury lawyer Rick Shapiro, whose Virginia-based firm advertises for CrossFit injury cases on its website, said the environment CrossFit promotes is “inherently” dangerous, “and they need to be sure they have the best industry practices for their members.”
Could event organizers be found legally responsible for Đukić’s death?
Reaction to the Đukić’s death was unanimous in lamenting the tragic loss of life.
But opinions were divided on where to lay the blame. Attendees who spoke to the Star-Telegram outside Dickies Arena on Thursday said they didn’t hold CrossFit responsible, but reaction online was markedly the opposite.
One user on X said CrossFit “has blood on [its] hands” and another called for it to be banned.
Former NFL linebacker and Barstool Sports host Will Compton called the drowning “horrific” on X and asked, “How in the world did nobody working the CrossFit Games not see this man drowning this close to the finish line???”
Texas powerlifter Camden Wilson called CrossFit “despicable” and the drowning “unacceptable.”
But, what about legal responsibility for the drowning?
All participants in the CrossFit Games sign an Assumption of Risk waiver before competing, according to the official rules on the event’s website.
The possibility of litigation ultimately depends on the language used in the waiver Đukić signed before competing, according to Ty Stimpson, a Fort Worth injury lawyer with the firm Varghese Summersett.
A claim of gross negligence on the part of the event organizers would likely not be protected, Stimpson said, but that can be a high bar to clear. Basically “reckless disregard” for the athlete’s safety, he said.
“Let’s say, for instance, that there’s some authorized personnel right there who clearly sees that he’s struggling and drowning, but turns their head, or avoids, and things of that nature, that could rise to the level of gross negligence,” he said, emphasizing that he was talking generally and not speculating on what occurred in the specific instance of Đukić’s death.
A clause found in an assumption of risk waiver for the 2016 CrossFit games states in all caps that the organization is indemnified in the event of a death arising from “negligent first aid or emergency response.”
A CrossFit spokesperson did not respond to a question asking if the organization accepts responsibility for Đukić’s death.
Emergency response questioned
An eyewitness told the Star-Telegram that she heard Đukić’s name announced as he rounded the final corner of the race. He was one of several she saw changing their swimming patterns during the race. She said she saw two people who she assumed to be lifeguards on paddle boards in the water, but did not see them jump into the water to attempt to safe Đukić.
Fellow CrossFit athlete David Shorunke said in a post on Instagram that other athletes and spectators saw Đukić struggling in the water and attempted to go in and help him, but were stopped by a lifeguard. He was in the water looking for Đukić when firefighters arrived to recover the body.
“I hope the investigation underway reveals how one of the best runners and swimmers in the field managed to drown 30 metres from the finish in full view of lifeguards, medical personnel and hundreds of fans — some of which apparently saw what was happening,” Shorunke, who is from the United Kingdom, said in the post. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The response Thursday clearly did not follow best lifeguard practices, according to Wyatt Werneth, public service spokesperson for the American Lifeguard Association.
Video showed Đukić displayed clear signs of what lifeguards look for in victim recognition, such as low strokes and anxious eyes, Werneth said.
“A trained, qualified lifeguard should have identified that and made instant contact with that person to provide them flotation, get them out of the water,” he said. “Drowning can be prevented. That’s our number one thing as lifeguards.”
