Written by Emily Beers and Joe Genetin-Pilawa
On the afternoon of August 20, 2024, the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association (PFAA) demanded that the Director of the CrossFit Games, Dave Castro, “be removed from his position in [CrossFit’s] Sport Team.”
The news was delivered directly to CrossFit CEO Don Faul at 1 p.m. PT.
Two other demands the PFAA made to Faul this afternoon included:
“An appropriate level of transparency between CrossFit and the PFAA regarding their 3rd party investigation as to the death of Lazar Dukic and subsequent changes made to protect all athletes going forward.”
“CrossFit creates an independent safety team to liaise with the PFAA on an ongoing basis.”
Read the full statement below.
This comes in the aftermath of Lazar Đukić’s death during the swim portion of Event 1 at the 2024 CrossFit Games 12 days ago.
Competitor and PFAA President Brent Fikowski said that was the final straw in what he characterizes as a long history of CrossFit failing to prioritize athlete safety.
Remind me: The PFAA was formed in July 2020 — in the midst of uncertainty surrounding the sport due to the global pandemic and CrossFit’s very public ownership change — and was officially incorporated as a Washington-based non-profit.
The details: The PFAA’s position is that, based on years of CrossFit’s unwillingness to engage meaningfully in the areas of athlete safety and risk mitigation during events, they no longer have trust in Castro.
On a call with the Morning Chalk Up today, Fikowski said: “We feel like Dave Castro can’t be part of the sport team with the trust that we’ve lost in him.”
“[Dave Castro] loves the CrossFit Games, and he has done an incredible amount for the CrossFit Games,” Fikowski said. “However, you know, love doesn’t always mean competence and the ability to take it to the next step of where it needs to go and where the athletes believe it needs to go.”
Fikowski added that athletes want more collaboration and clearer guidelines, neither of which Castro has ever been willing to provide.
The PFAA’s Chief Operating Officer, Grace Paulus, added that CrossFit’s unwillingness to engage and collaborate has been a “consistent pattern of behavior that has been experienced for years, and so this is the final [breaking point].”
One big thing: One example Fikowski provided the Morning Chalk Up about Castro’s unwillingness to take the athletes’ interests into consideration happened on Thursday, August 8, in the hours after Đukić’s death.
After multiple hours of discussions with Dave Castro and the CrossFit Sport Team with athletes, and coaches to determine how or if the 2024 CrossFit Games would continue, Fikowski approached Castro and said: “‘It is not reasonable to label this as a decision made in collaboration with athletes […] CrossFit needs to take ownership for this decision to continue this competition.’ And [he] looked right at me and agreed in front of the room full of attendees.”
The next day, on the opening of the CrossFit Games broadcast, Castro reported that in an email survey of the athlete field, 78 percent wanted to compete. After some further discussion with sideline reporter Mike Arsenault, Castro said:
“I’ll finish here; all of this was decided with [the athletes’] input. Ultimately, we made decisions that a lot of people won’t be in 100 agreement with, especially because of […] their grieving and there’s a lot of people grieving. But I feel like the process and the steps we took in getting to this point was the best process we could do in the condensed timeline and the tragic moment to get the most voices, get their voices heard.”
One more thing: Prior to contacting Faul today, the PFAA hosted two calls with PFAA members, including athletes, coaches, and agents, to inform them of their plan. One call took place on August 19 and one on August 20.
Thirty-five people were on the first call, and 54 on the second, and one common sentiment was, “This isn’t it, right?” Paulus explained that the PFAA then made it “painfully clear” that these are just “three initial steps” to get the ball rolling.
Fikowski doesn’t expect everyone to agree with all the PFAA’s decisions, but he’s hoping to create a cohesive group to help propel positive change.
“There’s strength in all of us, hopefully, sticking together in a really strong, unified group,” Fikowski said.
The big picture: For years, athletes and coaches have been concerned about CrossFit’s handling of athlete safety, and tragically, it has taken the death of one of the sport’s best athletes to reach a breaking point.
For the PFAA, meaningful change starts with removing Castro from the sport side of CrossFit. Ultimately, Fikowski explained, how CrossFit responds to the PFAA’s first three demands will dictate the next steps required.
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PFAA Public Statement:
“The PFAA represents the interests of athletes competing in the CrossFit Games season. The sport is built on the principle that athletes do not know all of the details of the events they participate in, but we always assumed if something went wrong they would save us. We were wrong.
We demand an appropriate level of transparency between CrossFit and the PFAA regarding their 3rd party investigation as to the death of Lazar Đukić and subsequent changes made to protect all athletes going forward.
We demand CrossFit create an independent safety team to liaise with the PFAA on an ongoing basis.
We demand that Dave Castro be removed from his position in the Sport Team.
These demands reflect the immediate steps necessary to begin to restore athlete trust in CrossFit Sport. The PFAA is also acutely aware that more must be done to change the culture and strategic direction of this sport to ensure its future and that will take time.
Signed, The PFAA Board – Anníe Thorisdottir, Brent Fikowski, Dina Swift, Fee Saghafi, Leeverne Engelbrecht, Patrick Vellner, Royce Dunne, Victoria Campos”
CrossFit Community Looks to Athletes on Social Media, Aims to Connect With Đukić Family
“He Was There, Then He Was Gone”: Former Lifeguard Gives Eyewitness Account of Lazar Đukić’s Death
“You Loved the Sport That Didn’t Love You Back”: Luka Đukić Comments on Brother Lazar’s Death
Credit: Mike Halpin, @known_knowable / Instagram
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