Jacques Freitag, the 2003 world high jump champion, has been found dead with gunshot wounds near a cemetery in Pretoria, South Africa. He was 42 years old.
Freitag had been missing for two weeks, last seen on June 17 when he left his mother’s house in Pretoria West with an unknown man around 1 am. His body was discovered near the Zandfontein cemetery in Andeon by a police search and rescue team, which included air wing and local police units.
South African media reports indicate that the case is being investigated as a murder, but no arrests have been made yet. Police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili confirmed that a missing person’s case has been converted to a murder investigation following the discovery of Freitag’s body. The family has yet to formally identify the body.
Freitag had an illustrious career, winning the world under-18 title in 1999, the world under-20 gold in 2000, and the world championship gold in 2003 with a leap of 2.35 meters. His personal best jump was 2.38 meters in 2005.
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