Luka Đukić, the brother of late Serbian CrossFit star Lazar Đukić, has shared the heartbreaking story of his brother drowning during the CrossFit Games in Texas on August 8. In the post, he criticized the leaders of the games and claimed that his wishes were “not respected” in the wake of the tragedy. Lazar drowned during the swimming portion of the competition, and his final moments were captured on live-streamed video.
After the tragic incident, in which Luka had to identify Lazar's body by photo, the athlete returned to his hotel. Luka said that ten minutes after arriving there, he was told that Dave Castro, the creator and director of the CrossFit Games, wanted to meet with him.
“Dave walked into the room [CrossFit Games Chief Brand Officer] “Nicole Carroll sat there for a while and said, 'We want to continue in the Games as a tribute to your brother,'” Luka wrote on Instagram.
“Somehow [sic] I said a lot of things mentally at that moment but [the] Luka claimed, “The most important ones were, 'I don't care, nothing is going to bring him back' and 'I don't think I can think clearly, so it shouldn't be up to me.' Dave replied, 'It's not up to you anyway.'”
“Later on,” Luka continued, “the decision to continue the Games was presented as 'the family's wish.'”
Luka claimed Castro further disrespected him by allowing the media to photograph him at Lazar's memorial the next day. “I didn't want any media around me, I didn't want to be around athletes and I didn't want to be on screen,” Luka wrote. “Since my request was not granted, I didn't speak to anyone else after that [CrossFit Games] HQ. I was asked to meet with Dave on Saturday night, which I declined, and was asked to attend the closing ceremony, which I declined.”
Luka continued: “I got a call from the Forensic Medicine Institute at noon on Friday and they said the doctor who performed the autopsy had classified Lazar's body shape as 'extremely fit' and there were no signs of a heart attack.”
Luka appears to have said that the event organisers and volunteers could have done more to prevent his brother's tragic death. “What I saw later in the video was that no attempt was made to rescue Lazarus, he was struggling and fell down next to two very incompetent volunteers (yes) on the paddle board and they didn't even see it [sic] he.”
Luka added: “I’m not going to point this post out to anyone and try to tarnish anyone’s name, but I feel obligated to do everything in my legal power, along with my family, to ask questions, investigate this case further and try to see whose fault it is. [it] “is.”
Luka concluded his post by heaping praise on Lazar, asking fans to remember him for his accomplishments rather than the circumstances of his death. “My brother loved this sport and was one of the best in the world at it,” Luka said. “He started from the bottom and achieved some unreal success, but he was also one of the best people with a heart bigger than a mountain. And that’s how he should be remembered.”
Representatives for the CrossFit Games, Castro and Carroll, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Men's Magazine.
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