FORT WORTH, Texas — The CrossFit Games athlete who died during a competition in Fort Worth in August died of drowning, according to the cause of death released by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.
Lazar Dukic, 28, of Serbia, died Aug. 8 during the opening event of the CrossFit Games in Fort Worth. Dukic was competing in the swim portion of the event at Marine Creek Lake when he went under the water and did not re-surface. Rescue crews later pulled his body from the water and he was pronounced dead.
Dukic's death had been reported as a drowning at the time by officials. The update from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office was the ruling on the official cause of death, a process that can take weeks or months. The full autopsy report has not been completed yet.
Dukic's brother in an update posted in September said officials had not ruled out a heart attack, but a heart attack was not noted on Dukic's entry on the medical examiner's website.
His brother, Luka Dukic, alleged in the same post that CrossFit Games founder Dave Castro had asked him about continuing the CrossFit Games after Lazar died but then ultimately told him the decision to continue the games was "not up to you."
CrossFit officials then indicated that the games were continuing at the wishes of the Dukic family.
Castro later apologized.
"I should never have said that the decision to continue the CrossFit Games in August was 'blessed' by their family," Castro said. "At the time, the decision was made to continue the Games and allow our athletes to compete - and we respected those athletes who decided to withdraw. This decision was made by CrossFit and I never intended to put the weight of this decision on Luka, the Đukić family or our CrossFit athletes. I’ve never been in a situation like this before and I absolutely made a mistake. I sincerely regret any pain I’ve caused."
Dukic's Instagram post included a detailed account of the CrossFit competition in which his brother died.
He said he was a bit behind his brother in the running portion of the run-and-swim event, but Lazar missed the entrance to the water, costing him a few seconds. As a result, the two brothers entered the water at around the same time.
"That was the last time I saw him," Luka Dukic said.
He said he couldn't see where his brother was in the water. After the race, he tried to find his brother but someone told him that he still wasn't out of the water.
Luka Dukic said he found Castro, who told him that Lazar's chip had crossed the finish line. Luka felt a "huge relief," he said, and went to relax for a few minutes.
That's when someone from CrossFit came up to him and told him that two chip timers were still missing. Around the same time, CrossFit officials were asking spectators and media to leave as they searched for a body in the water, Luka Dukic said.
"What I later saw on the video was that there were no attempts to save Lazar, he was fighting and went down close to two very unequipped volunteers (yes) on the paddleboard who didn't saw him and very close to the finish line," Dukic posted.
Dukic said he didn't want to "point fingers on this post and try to ruin anyone's name," but he said he felt obligated to ask questions and "go deeper into this case" about what happened to his brother and the response from CrossFit.
CrossFit officials after the games announced a third-party investigation into Lazar Dukic's death. The results of the investigation have not been announced.
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