Former World Champion in High Jump Dead

The former World Champion in high jump Jacques Freitag is dead, reports South African Netwerk24. According to the site, the police are investigating murder. Freitag was 42 years old.

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Former World Champion in High Jump Dead
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The former World Champion in high jump Jacques Freitag is dead, reports South African Netwerk24.

According to the site, the police are investigating murder.

Freitag was 42 years old.

The South African Jacques Freitag had been missing since June 17 and his sister, Chrissie du Toit, had previously gone out on social media and appealed for help to find him.

Now domestic media are reporting that the former World Champion is dead, 42 years old. According to the site Netwerk24, his body was found on Monday, and he was found shot.

Freitag became World Champion at the World Championship in Paris 2003, and competed for many years against Stefan Holm. And although the two were not particularly close friends, Holm expresses his sorrow on X, formerly Twitter.

"I won't say that we were close and we haven't heard from each other in ages, but this is just tragic and sad in every way", he writes.

When Holm finds out that murder is being investigated, he tells Aftonbladet that Freitag had previously talked about his problems.

Ugh.. I don't know what to say. He had a bit of a rough time during his upbringing and also as an active athlete. I know he's had some problems. It's incredibly tragic. And if it's murder, it's really scary, says Holm.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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