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Three-time Olympic medalist Tori Bowie, a Mississippi native who sprinted to gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, was found dead in a Florida home, officials said Wednesday.
She was 32.
Her management company and USA Track & Field announced her death. No cause of death was shared.
“We’ve lost a client, dear friend, daughter and sister,” Icon Management Inc. said in a statement. “Tori was a champion…a beacon of light that shined so bright! We’re truly heartbroken and our prayers are with the family, friends and everyone that loved her.”
Orange County sheriff’s deputies were asked on Tuesday afternoon “to conduct a well-being check of a woman in her 30s who had not been seen or heard from in several days,” an agency spokesperson said.
The woman found dead in the Winter Garden home was identified as Frentorish “Tori” Bowie and there “were no signs of foul play,” the sheriff said.
She’s best known for anchoring America’s 4×100-meter relay to gold in Brazil, leading a legendary squad of Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix and English Gardner.
Even though she was tasked with running the most important 100 meters of that race, Bowie insisted her duty that night in Rio was a breeze thanks to Bartoletta, Felix and Gardner.
“I had the easiest job of all,” Bowie said after the race. “My teammates brought me the stick, and all I had to do was bring it to the finish line.”
A native of Sand Hill, Mississippi, Bowie also won the 100-meter silver and 200-meter bronze in those 2016 Games.
Bowie went on to win 100-meter gold at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.
She always credited her success to loved ones in rural Mississippi, especially the grandmother who raised her.
“Sand Hill doesn’t have any stoplights, not even one,” she said in a 2016 interview. “I mean that’s all I’ve known my entire life. So I’m a small-country-town girl, even at heart.”
Fellow Olympian Lolo Jones, 40, wrote on Instagram that she was “gutted” by the news of Bowie’s death.
“To her family, thank you for creating such a beautiful person. I pray you will be surrounded by God’s comfort during this time,” Jones wrote. “The Running community mourns an incredible loss. Rest in peace Tori.”
Janhvi Bhojwani contributed.
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