Kevin Ogar, an experienced athlete and Crossfit coach, was left paralyzed after a weightlifting accident during a competition earlier this month. Is that Crossfit’s fault?
No. At least, not any more than a football player getting paralyzed by a vicious hit is “football’s” fault. Which is to say, participating in a dangerous activity carries with it the risk of serious injury. Kevin Ogar is, sadly, one of the unlucky ones. If anything good can come out of his case, it may be that it gives all the Crossfit weekend warriors a reason to pause and evaluate exactly what they’re doing.
There are plenty of great weightlifting moves like squats and deadlifts and presses and rows that provide great benefits and do not contain the speed element that makes Olympic lifting so risky. If you are not a high-level competitive athlete, you can probably stand to not do Olympic lifts. Particularly not timed Olympic lifts. The fact that Crossfit encourages thousands of poorly trained people to perform Olympic movements as fast as they can is probably the single worst thing about Crossfit, besides the socks.
You can donate to Kevin Ogar’s hospital bills here
