Former sports star Jacques Freitag has been found dead in Pretoria. Photo: X
RIP: Former SA world champion Jacques Freitag found dead
The deceased body of Jacques Freitag, the former SA world high jump champion, has reportedly been found with gunshot wounds.
Former sports star Jacques Freitag has been found dead in Pretoria. Photo: X
As widely reported, the former athletics star Jacques Freitag was recently reported as missing. He had not been seen since 12 June, the day after his 42nd birthday when he reportedly visited family in Bronkhorstspruit.
On Monday, 1 July, his sister Chrissie Lewis confirmed that her brother was still missing, but in tragic news that came to light on Tuesday, it was reported that his body had been discovered with gunshot wounds in a field near the Zandfontein cemetery in Pretoria West.
“The discovery was made by the SAPS Search and Rescue Team which has been conducting a search for the missing person,” stated police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo. “The team included members from Air Wing with a police chopper, Water Wing and the local police.”
He said the family of the deceased has not yet identified the body, but that a case of murder is now being investigated.
As also reported by IOL, when Freitag had last been seen, there were reports he had been picked up in the middle of the night by a man at his mother’s house in Bronkhorstspruit and was never seen alive again.
The news of the death of Jacques Freitag came to light on Tuesday
SA HIGH JUMP RECORD HOLDER
Freitag is a four-time South African high jump champion and still holds the national record of 2.38 metres which he set in Oudtshoorn on 5 March 2005.
In 2003 he cleared 2.35 metres at the Stade de France in Paris to win the gold medal at the IAAF World Championships.
Freitag represented South Africa at the Athens Olympics in 2004, but failed to make the high jump final, clearing just 2.20 metres in qualifying.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that since his retirement from the sport in 2013, Freitag struggled financially, had a recreational drug addiction and on occasion was living on the streets in Pretoria.
Rapport reported that Freitag had fallen on hard times since his sporting career had come to an end, and struggled with drug use.
Over a decade ago, he reportedly spent three days behind bars after being found in possession of drugs. In 2007, he also found himself in trouble with the law when he was involved in a road rage incident.
