Former high jump world champion found dead aged 42
![Jacques Freitag, whose dead body is reported to have been found, competes at the 2004 Olympics. (AP PHOTO)](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/C-15233241/42a446054570b66b077c6bd724a7320ae2cb80fc-16x9-x0y0w1280h720.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag, local media have reported.
The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot.
His family declined to comment.
Police said they found the body of Freitag, who went missing last month, in a field near a cemetery in the city of Pretoria. The body had not yet been formally identified by family members.
Freitag's sister, Chrissie Lewis, had appealed for help on social media to find Freitag, who went missing in the pre-dawn hours of June 17 after leaving his mother's house. Lewis said he had struggled with drug addiction after his athletics career ended.
Freitag was among a select group of athletes to win world titles at youth, junior and senior level.
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