I will not post the video as i personally don't like to see people sustaining life altering injuries or pain.
A Colorado CrossFit athlete was performing a routine lift during a competition in Southern California over the weekend when he suffered a critical injury to his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Tragedy struck Sunday while Kevin Ogar, a coach at a CrossFit gym in Denver, was performing a 'snatch' - a staple move in the sport that combines weightlifting, gymnastics and sprinting.
According to published reports, the 6 foot 1, 210-pound Ogar lifted a heavy barbell to his waist and then over his head, but couldn't hold it, letting the heavy bar plummet to the floor behind him.
The bar bounced against another set of weights, striking Ogar in the back and severing his spine.
‘When impact was made, he jumped almost like someone shot him,’ Ogar's friend and employer Matt Hathcock told ABC News.
The gravely injured athlete collapsed to the floor inside the Costa Mesa venue hosting the OC Throwdown, unable to move his legs.
The CrossFit enthusiast and his training partners described the devastating injury as a 'freak accident' and insisted that the flourishing sport was not to blame for it.
However, the increasingly popular high-intensity physical regimen has been criticized in recent years by members of the medical community, who have expressed concerns over potential risks to the athletes’ health.
Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told ABC News she has seen a spike in the number of CrossFit-related injuries supposedly caused by lack of supervision, bad form and excessive training. ‘Kevin has been doing CrossFit for a very long time at a very high level. Are injuries going to occur? Sure, but Kevin's not going to blame the sport,’ Hathcock told ABC. ‘This was not the fault of CrossFit.’
Since it was founded by California fitness coach Greg Glassman in 2000, CrossFit's popularity has exploded in the U.S., with nearly 7,000 privately owned gyms dedicated to the hard-core fitness program.Every year, Glassman's company, CrossFit Inc, holds CrossFit Games where first-place winners can walk away with as much as $275,000 in prize money and land lucrative sponsorship deals.
As a top-tier athlete, Ogar has been training to compete in the televised Games in the near future. Now, he is fighting to regain the use of his legs.
The Missouri native works part time at a Whole Food supermarket and had no health insurance to cover his mounting medical bills.
To help Ogar with his recovery, the global CrossFit community has rallied around him, raising money towards his costly medical treatment and rehabilitation.
As of Thursday evening, 3,230 people from all over the world have donated just under $200,000 on fundy.com. His friends and supporters also have been selling T-shirts on the site KevinOgar to help the injured athlete financially.
Ogar has undergone two surgeries so far, had screws and rods inserted in his injured back, and will be moved to a rehab facility in Colorado.
Vince Ogar, Kevin’s father, told the station kdsk his son already had his first physical therapy session and was fitted with a back brace, adding that his spirit remains unbroken. The family hope the resilient athlete will walk again.
A Colorado CrossFit athlete was performing a routine lift during a competition in Southern California over the weekend when he suffered a critical injury to his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Tragedy struck Sunday while Kevin Ogar, a coach at a CrossFit gym in Denver, was performing a 'snatch' - a staple move in the sport that combines weightlifting, gymnastics and sprinting.
According to published reports, the 6 foot 1, 210-pound Ogar lifted a heavy barbell to his waist and then over his head, but couldn't hold it, letting the heavy bar plummet to the floor behind him.
The bar bounced against another set of weights, striking Ogar in the back and severing his spine.
‘When impact was made, he jumped almost like someone shot him,’ Ogar's friend and employer Matt Hathcock told ABC News.
The gravely injured athlete collapsed to the floor inside the Costa Mesa venue hosting the OC Throwdown, unable to move his legs.
The CrossFit enthusiast and his training partners described the devastating injury as a 'freak accident' and insisted that the flourishing sport was not to blame for it.
However, the increasingly popular high-intensity physical regimen has been criticized in recent years by members of the medical community, who have expressed concerns over potential risks to the athletes’ health.
Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told ABC News she has seen a spike in the number of CrossFit-related injuries supposedly caused by lack of supervision, bad form and excessive training. ‘Kevin has been doing CrossFit for a very long time at a very high level. Are injuries going to occur? Sure, but Kevin's not going to blame the sport,’ Hathcock told ABC. ‘This was not the fault of CrossFit.’
Since it was founded by California fitness coach Greg Glassman in 2000, CrossFit's popularity has exploded in the U.S., with nearly 7,000 privately owned gyms dedicated to the hard-core fitness program.Every year, Glassman's company, CrossFit Inc, holds CrossFit Games where first-place winners can walk away with as much as $275,000 in prize money and land lucrative sponsorship deals.
As a top-tier athlete, Ogar has been training to compete in the televised Games in the near future. Now, he is fighting to regain the use of his legs.
The Missouri native works part time at a Whole Food supermarket and had no health insurance to cover his mounting medical bills.
To help Ogar with his recovery, the global CrossFit community has rallied around him, raising money towards his costly medical treatment and rehabilitation.
As of Thursday evening, 3,230 people from all over the world have donated just under $200,000 on fundy.com. His friends and supporters also have been selling T-shirts on the site KevinOgar to help the injured athlete financially.
Ogar has undergone two surgeries so far, had screws and rods inserted in his injured back, and will be moved to a rehab facility in Colorado.
Vince Ogar, Kevin’s father, told the station kdsk his son already had his first physical therapy session and was fitted with a back brace, adding that his spirit remains unbroken. The family hope the resilient athlete will walk again.
