Target: Dave Castro, CrossFit’s Director of Sport and Programmer of CrossFit Games
Goal: Implement safety and wellness reforms to athletic competitions.
Hay bale jumps and sledgehammer swings are just some of the activities that elite athletes perform to be considered “the fittest on Earth.” Every year, dozens of athletes converge for the CrossFit Games. The latest annual event was marred by tragedy, however, when an athlete died in the midst of an open-water swim during the first day of competition. The controversial decision to move forward with the games prompted competition withdrawals and renewed concerns about the safety of this “mini-Olympics.”
While CrossFit has become popular as a workout regimen, the games themselves feature extremely ramped-up versions of common CrossFit exercises as well as events that would not be found in a typical CrossFit routine. The open-water swim that reportedly claimed athlete Lazar Dukic’s life was one such event, and critics had previously expressed reservations about holding both an outdoor swim and an outdoor event in extreme temperatures and with an apparent lack of on-site trained health personnel. In a prior year, another athlete allegedly almost drowned. And overwhelming exhaustion has been frequently cited by athletes who claim they are pushed beyond their limits.
Sign the petition below to demand this event’s operators take decisive steps to ensure tragedy does not strike again.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Castro,
Lazar Dukic’s name should be honored, but it should also serve as a call to action in the wake of tragedy. You recently claimed that safety “is always taken into consideration” during the CrossFit Games. Safety should not merely be a consideration but a top priority.
Listen to the experiences of athletes who have spoken about health-endangering exhaustion. Heed the concerns of critics who have long questioned the safety of outdoor running and swimming events in challenging weather. And show the world the true benefits of CrossFit as a means to bolster, not threaten, health.
CrossFit has made great strides. Do not set the movement back irreversibly by delivering a message of fitness at any cost.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Rose Physical Therapy Group
To be the best is not so much how intelligent you ay be. To train to be an athlete and the best in a certain field is memorable. Yet to be an all around great person comes as much from the inside as the outside. To be humble and kind , to think with compassion and wisdom has nothing to do with your physical being. But put both together and that IS a person to be admired.