* Tori Bowie, an Olympic and World Championships gold medalist, has died
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
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Tori Bowie, an Olympic and two-time World champion from Mississippi who transitioned from the long jump to the 100m, where she became -- at one point -- the fastest woman in the world, has died, MileSplit has confirmed.
MileSplit spoke with Ato Boldon, who confirmed the news early this morning, along with Bianca Knight, a fellow Olympian from Mississippian who, like Bowie, has given back to the community where she once grew up.
Bowie's agent, Kim Holland, runs the Icon Management social media accounts that have confirmed the news online. The World Athletics Instagram account also confirmed the news early on Wednesday.
"We're devastated to share the very sad news that Torie Bowie has passed away," ICON Management wrote on Twitter. "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."
"Such a sad ending to a beautiful person for sure," Knight told MileSplit via text.
Bowie, 32, was a 2008 graduate of Pisgah High School in Sandhill, Mississippi, a small incorporated town just north of Jackson. In recent years Bowie spent time modeling and giving back to her community, including a foster care system that she once spent part in as a young child. Bowie also appeared at local track and field invitationals in Mississippi.
Bowie, who stood 5-foot-9 inches, traversed a well-trodden path from high school, where she was a basketball player and track athlete, to the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where she won two NCAA titles, across the indoor and outdoor seasons, in 2011.
After making the decision to switch to sprints, Bowie drove forward in the 100m, where she moved to Clermont, Florida to train in 2013 and then saw major success in 2014, hitting times of 10.91 and 10.80.
In 2015, she finished third in the 100m World Championship in Beijing, clocking a time of 10.86 and then followed with two Olympic silver medals in the 100m in 2016, authoring times of 10.83 and 22.15 seconds in Rio. She was also part of the U.S.'s gold medal winning 4x100 as well.
In 2017, she won a World Championship title in the 100m in London, hitting 10.85 on the clock and also contributed to the U.S.'s win in the 4x100.