South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion, Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month.
According to reports on Wednesday, 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 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 early hours of June 17 after leaving his mother’s house. Lewis mentioned that 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 levels.
