Jul. 03, 2024 08:58 AM EST

South African Police Find The Body Of Former High Jump World Champion Freitag, Who Was Shot

By GERALD IMRAY
Associated Press
FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men's high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File) THOMAS KIENZLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men's high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)
FILE - South Africa's Jacques Freitag competes in the men's high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month, local media reported on Wednesday.

The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot.

His family declined to comment. Police said they found the body in a field near a cemetery in the city of Pretoria. The body had not yet been formally identified by family members.

Freitag's sister, Chrissie Lewis, had appealed for help on social media to find Freitag, who went missing in the predawn hours of June 17 after leaving his mother's house. Lewis said he had struggled with drug addiction after his athletics career ended.

Freitag was among a select group of athletes to win world titles at youth, junior and senior level.

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