Former Olympian, world champion found shot dead

South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month, local media reported.

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

Police said they found the body in a field near a cemetery in the city of Pretoria and are treating the case as murder.

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Netwerk24 reported a source told the publication that Freitag was allegedly executed.

One of the gunshot wounds was reportedly located in the back of his skull.

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 reportedly picked up from his mother’s home after midnight and dropped at a nearby area by a mystery man who said that he had work for him.

But he was never seen again until his blood soaked body was found with several bullet wounds.

Freitag was among a select group of athletes to win world titles at youth, junior and senior levels and jumped a personal best of 2.38m in 2005.

He was one of only 10 athletes including Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Veronica Campbell-Brown to win World Championships at all three levels.

He won the high jump at the 1999 Youth World Championships in Poland, the Junior World Champs in Chile in 2000 and the Senior’s in France in 2003.

In 2003 he cleared 2.35m at the Stade de France in Paris to win the gold medal at the IAAF World Championships.

He retired from sport in 2013 and was said to have in recent times been sleeping on the streets or friends’ couches, having been unable to hold down a full-time job.

He still holds the African record after clearing 2.38m, which he set in a competition in 2005.