This afternoon the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association (PFAA) released a statement following Lazar Djukic’s death during the first event of the 2024 CrossFit Games. In the statement, the PFAA outlined three demands “necessary to begin to restore athlete trust in CrossFit Sport.”
Those demands included a call for transparency with respect to the third-party investigation of Lazar Djukic’s death, the creation of an independent safety team going forward and the removal of Dave Castro from his position in the Sport Team.
The statement, posted to the PFAA’s Instagram account, read as follows:
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.
1) We demand 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.
2) We demand CrossFit create an independent safety team to liaise with the PFAA on an ongoing basis.
3) 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 – AnnÃe Thorisdottir, Brent Fikowski, Dina Swift, Fee Saghafi, Leeverne Engelbrecht, Patrick Vellner, Royce Dunne, Victoria Campos
The PFAA was founded in July 2020 and is led by Brent Fikowski, President of the PFAA. Fikowski is joined by athletes from the seven competitive regions including Pat Vellner, Annie Thorisdottir and Fee Saghafi among others. Advisory Council members include Caroline Lambray, John Christian Singleton, Justin Cotler, Max El-Hag and Joshua Hicks.
In late 2023, the PFAA partnered with Loud & Live Sports, the organization that hosts TYR Wodapalooza Miami and SoCal.
