Fans across the country flocked to the new location of the 2024 CrossFit Games: Soon after arriving in Fort Worth, TX, many say they were faced with the decision of whether or not to leave the event entirely after tragedy struck during the first event of the weekend.
- Spectators we spoke with felt a collective sense of sadness and confusion as to what to do when it was announced that Lazar Đukić died on Thursday during the swim event.
Some were in the air, some had just landed or decided to catch up on the first event via the live stream at their respective locations. No matter where they were, they all faced the same painstaking decision: whether to stay for the rest of the weekend or go home.
For Elly Trickett and Rudy Chang, long-time fans of the sport, they chose to stick it out.
- “Through all of this, there was no talking directly to the people who have been there, the people who attend the CrossFit Games…the people who spend a lot of money to be there, they spent time out to be there, and there was no communication directly to us,” said Trickett in an interview with Morning Chalk Up.
Trickett and Chang are both CrossFit coaches at CrossFit 203 in Danbury, CT. This was their fourth year attending the Games, and it is an event they look forward to each year.
As big fans, they weren’t quite sure what to do about the competition after Thursday but ultimately chose to stay to support the community and to stay around others who were also grieving.
- “I remember thinking that I’m still here, and the reason I’m here is because I don’t know how not to be,” said Trickett.
- Separately, Chang recalls that Friday was a “heavy day,” but by Saturday, it felt like Thursday hadn’t happened.
- “The way Saturday was run felt like a regular Saturday at any other year,” Rudy said in an interview with Morning Chalk Up.
Remind me: CrossFit HQ canceled all Thursday events but announced (very late Thursday evening) that the weekend would continue and that athletes had a choice to either stay and compete or withdraw from the competition.
- The details of what happened leading up to that decision have come to light, and Morning Chalk Up has laid a timeline for the day here.
The ultimate decision was made after a select few athletes met, and a survey with a series of questions about what they wanted to do moving forward was sent to all athletes.
Following the poll results on Thursday evening, athletes were told the next day’s events would begin at noon, following a tribute for Đukić, which several fans criticized as being thrown together and not meeting the magnitude of the tragedy.
- “It was too minimalist for what had happened,” said Rudy in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “I feel like it’s almost better if they attempted something more, but it didn’t come out that great. I think people would have understood.”
He and Trickett acknowledged that Sunday’s closing ceremony was much better and honored Đukić more meaningfully. Ultimately, both felt a lot of guilt for deciding to stay.
- “There was just nothing to bring us, the spectators, together as a community. There was nothing to foster connection, and we as a community weren’t strong enough to do it ourselves,” said Trickett.
Someone going through a similar dilemma was Rohit Hazra.
He had landed from Minneapolis around 8 a.m. on Thursday and was monitoring the livestream from his phone.
He’d later find out from his wife, who was going to join him, that Đukić had died.
- “It was the worst thing that could have possibly happened,” Hazra told Morning Chalk Up in an interview.
He ended up going to Dickies Arena, where it was “eerie and somber.” Hazra’s wife ended up canceling her flight after finding out about the death due to her own personal loss that she was dealing with, which left him with the tough choice to stay or leave.
Like Trickett and Chang, he heard about the tribute to Đukić that would be held Friday and knew he wanted to stick around at least for that. But Hazra recalls it was a frustrating thing to witness and a disappointing tribute at best.
Hazra has been to every Games since 2018, but he saw the athletes in a new light this year.
- “Just looking at their body language, you could tell they were scared, for their family for sure, and that this could have happened to any of them,” said Hazra. “Looking at them in this setting gave me some context, some new color on how real these people that we watch on TV are and how avoidable this could have been.”
After staying for that first event on Friday, Hazra’s wife told him she had found a flight out of Dallas, TX, that evening.
He hadn’t considered leaving that soon, but he stepped outside the arena and booked the flight home. He stepped back through the vendor village one last time. Everything was somber and completely unrecognizable as the CrossFit Games.
- “It kind of felt like you were leaving the Games for what we know it to be,” said Hazra, who chose not to attend the other events before his flight. He packed up, returned his rental car, and left.
Hazra added that the only support for spectators on-site came from the athletes. In their post-event interviews, many athletes thanked the fans for sticking around. But no correspondence from HQ went directly to ticketholders.
Hazra has no regrets about his decision. While he continues to train at his local affiliate, he adds that he hasn’t rewatched any of the Games’ live streams.
Trickett and Chang, who both began choking up during the interview, felt unsure about their decision to stay.
- “I don’t want people to think for one second that I was there to see if I could squeeze a good time out of a bad situation. In some ways, I really regret not leaving, and I will always question why,” said Trickett.
Chang looked at the weekend more logically than emotionally, but after reflecting on it also felt guilt for sticking through to Sunday.
Obviously, HQ directed its attention to the athletes and the community as a whole, “but for the people there collectively grieving with nowhere to direct it to, that was such a big mess,” said Trickett.
The bottom line: It’s important to remember that even though the stadium may have been filled with spectators, each and every one of them was grieving and also had to make a difficult decision after the loss of an athlete they all expected to be cheering on the remainder of the weekend.
Featured image credit: Carlos Fleury
