Jacques Freitag, 2003 world high jump champion, found dead in South Africa – AW

South African athlete, 42, was discovered with gunshot wounds near a cemetery in Pretoria

Jacques Freitag, the 2003 world high jump gold medallist, has been found dead with gunshot wounds near a cemetery in Pretoria, South Africa.

The 42-year-old was reported missing two weeks ago and reportedly last seen when he left his mother’s house with an unknown man at around 1am on June 17.

South African media say the case is being investigated by police as murder but no one has been arrested yet.

Freitag won the world under-18 title in Bydgoszcz in 1999 and world under-20 gold in Santiago in 2000 before claiming global gold ahead with 2.35m ahead of Stefan Holm of Sweden and Mark Boswell of Canada in 2003.

His best leap was 2.38m from 2005.

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