Former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag found shot dead in South Africa

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

According to reports, the 42-year-old, who won the world championship title in Paris in 2003 and took part in the 2004 Olympic Games, was shot.

His family declined to comment. Police said they found the body in a field near a cemetery in the city of Pretoria. The family has not yet officially identified the body.

Freitag’s sister Chrissie Lewis had asked for help on social media in finding Freitag, who disappeared in the early hours of June 17 after leaving his mother’s house. Lewis said he had struggled with drug addiction after ending his sporting career.

The chairman of the South African Athletics Commission, Hendrick Mokganyetsi, who said he often travelled with Freitag to international events, told EWN: “I remember him jumping 2.38 metres on March 5, 2005 – that was a national record.”

“He was a four-time South African high jump champion. In 2000, he won gold at the World Junior Championships held in Santiago, Chile.

“(2003) He won the gold medal at the World Championships in Paris with a jump of 2.35 metres. With this victory he became the first South African to win gold in the high jump at a World Championship.”

Freitag was part of a select group of athletes who won world titles at youth, junior and senior levels.