U.S. Olympic champion sprinter Bowie dies at 32
Former 100-meter world champion and three-time Olympic medalist Tori Bowie has died at the age of 32, her management company said Wednesday.
“We’re [devastated] to share the very sad news that Tori Bowie has passed away,” Icon Management said in a statement on Twitter. “We’ve lost a client, dear friend, daughter and sister. Tori was a champion … a beacon of light that shined so bright! We’re truly heartbroken and our prayers are with the family and friends.”
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando, Florida, deputies responded Tuesday afternoon to a home in the area “for a well-being check of a woman in her 30s who had not been seen or heard from in several days.”
The sheriff’s office wrote that a woman, “tentatively identified as Frentorish “Tori” Bowie (DOB: 8/27/1990), was found dead in the home. There were no signs of foul play.”
Bowie turned in an electric performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, winning silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200 and running the anchor leg on a 4×100 team with Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix and English Gardner to take gold.
After finishing second in the 100 meters in Rio, Bowie won the race at the world championship in London a year later, finishing less than a hundredth of a second ahead of Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou.
“USATF is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Tori Bowie, a three-time Olympic medalist and two-time world champion,” USA Track and Field tweeted. “Her impact on the sport is immeasurable, and she will be greatly missed.”
The track and field community mourned Bowie’s death on social media. Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce tweeted: “My heart breaks for the family of Tori Bowie. A great competitor and source of light. Your energy and smile will always be with me. Rest in peace.”
Brittney Reese, a three-time Olympic medalist in the long jump, wrote: “I’m so heartbroken over this … You have made a lot of us proud thank you for representing our state of Mississippi like you did … RIP!”
Growing up in Sand Hill, Mississippi, Bowie was coaxed into track as a teenager and quickly rose up the ranks as a sprinter and long jumper. She attended Southern Miss, where she swept the long jump NCAA championships at the indoor and outdoor events in 2011.
Bowie was taken in by her grandmother as an infant after she was left at a foster home. She considered herself a basketball player and only reluctantly showed up for track, but Bowie was a fast learner, becoming a state champion in the 100, 200 and long jump before going to college.
Her first major international medal was a 100-meter bronze at worlds in 2015. After winning, she said, “My entire life my grandmother told me I could do whatever I set my mind to.”
“She was a very enthusiastic, sparkling personality,” said track coach Craig Poole, who worked with Bowie early in her career and again later. “She was really fun to work with.”
World Athletics, the sport’s governing body, also announced Wednesday that Olympic medalist Calvin Davis had died at the age of 51. The University of Arkansas, where he went to school, said Davis died Monday.
Davis won bronze in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1996 Atlanta Games and was part of the U.S. team that won 4×400-meter relay gold at the 1995 World Indoor Championships in Barcelona.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
