American sprinter and Olympic gold medalist, Tori Bowie has died at the age of 32.
‘We’re devastated to share the very sad news that Tori Bowie has passed away,’ Icon Management Inc. said in a statement Wednesday morning, May 5.
‘We’ve lost a client, dear friend, daughter, and sister. Tori was a champion…a beacon of light that shined so bright! We’re truly heartbroken and our prayers are with the family and friends.’
This statement did not reveal or release the cause of Bowie’s death.
According to reports from TMZ, she was found dead on Tuesday May 2, in Florida.
The world of track and field began pouring out condolences to Bowie’s family as they dealt with such a sudden loss of life.
US record holder and three-time world champion Noah Lyles led the tributes to Bowie. He responded to her management agency’s statement on Twitter, saying: ‘I can’t believe this.
‘I had just heard word of her going to be with her sister back home and now this. This breaks my heart to hear and I will keep the family in my prayers.’
Kenyan Olympian javelin thrower Julius Yego tweeted, ‘So devastating and shocking to learn of the passing on of Tori Bowie.
After winning the bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships, Bowie qualified for the US Olympic Team for the Rio Olympics in 2016.
There, she qualified to race for Team USA in the finals of the 4×100 meter relay, the 100m and the 200m.
She won silver in the 100m dash, finishing with a time of 10.83 and just behind gold winner Elaine Thompson of Jamaica who snagged a 10.71. In the 200m event, Thompson won gold again and Holland’s Dafne Schippers won silver as Bowie finished with the bronze.
But alongside fellow sprinters English Gardner, Allyson Felix, and Tianna Bartoletta, Bowie helped Team USA retain the gold in the 4x100m relay by running the anchor leg and outlasting Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
A year later at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, she took home the gold medal in the 100m and again in the 4x100m relay.
At the 2019 World Championships in Qatar, Bowie made the semifinals of the 100m but did not start after qualifying. She was not part of the women’s 4x100m team – with Team USA finishing third with an entirely new cast of Dezerea Bryant, Teahna Daniels, Morolake Akinosun, and Kiara Parker.
