‘We’re devastated’: Tori Bowie, Olympic medalist from Mississippi, dies at 32

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Mississippi native and three-time Olympic sprint medalist, Tori Bowie has died at the age of 32.

Bowie’s management agency broke the news in a tweet Wednesday morning, saying in part, “Tori was a champion… a beacon of light that shined so bright!”

The statement did not reveal or release the cause of Bowie’s death.

Bowie won gold (4x100-meter relay), silver (100m), and bronze (200m) for the U.S. at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

After finishing second in the 100 meters in Rio, she also won the race at the world championships in London a year later.

Bowie grew up in Sandhill, Mississippi. She was taken in by her grandmother as an infant after she was left at a foster home, the Associated Press reports.

She considered herself a basketball player and only reluctantly showed up for track, but Bowie was a fast learner, becoming a state champion in the 100, 200, and long jump before going to college. She later attended Southern Mississippi, where she swept the long jump NCAA championships at the indoor and outdoor events in 2011.

USA Track and Field said Bowie’s “impact on the sport is immeasurable”, adding she will be “greatly missed”.

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